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AFRICA

AND ITS INHABITANTS

By ELISEE RECLUS

EDITED

By a. H. KEANE, B.A.

lvtb vice-pre3idknt anthrop. in-.sriturb; cor. memb. italian as'u washixgton asithrop. soc.

emeritus professor op hindustani, university col. london ; adthor op " asia,"

" b-astern gbosr.vphv," " ethnolosy," " man, past and present," etc.

ILLUSTRATED BY NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS AND MAPS

VOL. IV.

LONDON :
VIRTUE AND CO.MPANY, CITY ROAD

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CONTENTS.

CHAP, PAGE

I. PoRTUOUESE West Africa (Anoola) 1

General Survey, j) 1, Physical Foiitiires, p. -1. River Basins, p. 6. Climate, p. 10.

Flora, p. 12. Fauna, p. 14. luliabitants, p. IG. Topography, p. 31. Administration,

p. S8.

•
II. Gekman South-West Afbica (Damara and Namaqua Lands) CO

Physical Features, p. 1)2. Climate — River Systems, p. 64. Flora, Fauna —Natural Re-
sources— Colonial Prospects, p. 05. Inhabitants — The Ovambos and Hereros, p. i'<~. The
HiU Damaras and Namaquas, p. 7i. Topography, p. 75.

III. The Obanoe and Limpopo Basins . 78

General Survey, p. 78. Physical Features, p. 81. Geological Formations, p. 80.
Rivers, p. 86. Climate, p. 95. Flora, p. 101. Fauna, p. 105. Inhabitants, p. 107.
The Bushmen, p 108. The Hottentots, p. 113.

IV. Cape Colony and its Dependencies US

Historic Rttrosjtect, p. 118. Topography of Cape Colony, p. 125. Material Resources,
Agriculture, p. 137. Stock-breeding, Ostrich-fanning, p. 139. Irrigation Works, Trade,
p. 141. Highways of Communication, p. 143. Administration, Public In.struction, p. 144.
Griqualand West, p. 147. The Diamond Fields, p. 149. Bechuan.alaml, p. 156. Tlic
Bechuanas, p. 157. Topography, if 160 Historic Retro.spect, Administraticm, p. 163.
Basutoland, p. 106. Kafirland, p. 170. Tembuland, p. 175. Pondoland, p. 176. Griqua-
land East, p. 177.

V. Natal and Zululand 178

General Survej', p. 178. The Natives of Natal, p. ISO. Immigration, Coolie Labour,
p. 181. Agricultural and Mineral Resources, p. 183. Topography of Natal, p. 185.
Administration, p. 189. Zuliiland, p. 190. The Zulus, p. 192. Amatonguland and
Swaziland, ]i. 193.

VI. The Late 1!oee States and Poetuouese Possessions South of the Lnrroi-o . . 196

The Orange River Colony, p. 196. The Boers of the Orange River Colony, ji. 19". Top^
graphy, p. 199. Administration, p. 200. Transvaal Colony, j^ 201. Natural Divisions
p. 201. Historic Retrospect, p. 202. Natural Resources, p. 207. Mineral Wealth
p. 209. Topography, p. 212. Administration of the Transvaal, p. 214. Delagoa Bay
216. Louren(;o Marques, 217.

YII. Portdolese Possessions Nohth of the Limpopo 221

Gazaland, Physical Features, p. 22 1 . River Systems, Marine Currents, p. 223. Climate,
Flora, Fa\ma, p. 224. Historical Retrospect — the Zimbabye Ruins, p. 226. The Zulus aud
Aborigines of Gazaland, p. 227. The Banyans, 230. Topography, p. 231.

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iv CONTENTS.

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CHAP. ' -^'''"■

VIII. NORTHEIiV AN-n SotTTHEEV RHODESIA- ZaMIIESB BaSIN '-iSS

{JftnL-nil Survo}-, p. 235. The Ku-Rnnfro, p. 23fi. Lake N^ami, p. 230. Tlie Chobe,
p. 210. The UpiKT Zambcsc, p. 'Ht. The Victoria Falln, p. 243. The Middli^ Zambceo,
p. 21.5. Lake Nyaxsa, ]). 247. The Shire anil Lower Zambesc, p. 2.50. The ZamUese
Delta, p. 2 >2. Climate of the Zaintw.so Basiu, p. 254. Flora, p. 2:')4. riiuna. p. 2.5.5.
luhabitant.s of tlie L'ppcr Zanibeso Region, p. 257. The Barotae rrotcctorate, p. 2C0.
Topog-raphy, p. 2C3. SouUiom Rhodesia, p. 264. Railway and Telegraph Enterprise,
p. 267. Aborigines of Soutliuni Rhodesia, p. 2G8. Portuguese Stations oti the Lf)W%''
Zanil)e.se, p. 269. Northern Rhodc'sia ; British Central Africa Protectorate, p 271.
Topography, p. 276. Portuguese Zainbesia, p. 278.

IX. MozAMiiiQUE — PoRxnorESB Possessions Noktii of the Zambesb 281

Itelief of the Land, p. 282. Rivers, p. 284. Lake Kilwah, p. 285. The Mozambique
Coast, p. 287. Climate, Flora and Fauna, p. 289. Inhabitants, p. 290. Topography, ^
p. 295. Administration, p. 299.

X. Oeuman East Africa axd Zaszihau 301

Tlie German Annexations, p. 301. Physical Features, p. 304. Rivers, p. 305. Lake
Rikwa, p. 307. Climate, p. 308. Flora and Fanna, p. 309. Inhabitants, p. 310.
Topography, 316. The Caravan Trade, Inland Stations, p. 324. Islands of Zanzibar and
Miifia, p. 326. Flora and Fauna, p. 32',). Inhabitants, p. 330. Topography, p. 333.
Lslnnd of Pcmba, p. 333. Administration of Zanzibar, p. 334.

XI. British East Africa — The East Africa Pkotectoratf. 336

Physical Features, p. 338. Lake Naivasha, p. 340. Lakes Baringo, Rudolf and Stefanie,
p. 341. Usambara and Bura Mountains, p. 343. Kilima-Njaro, p. 344. Tlie Njlri Plain,
3+6. Moeru andLTlu Mountains, p. 348. Mount Kcnia, p. 348. Mount Elgon and its
Caves, p. 349. Rivers, p. 350. Flora, p. 352. Fauna, p. 353. Inhabitants, p. 354.
Topography, p. 370. Administration — The British East Africa Company— Railway
Entei-prise — The Sclater Road, p. 374. .

XII. .'^OMAi.i AND East Galla Lands 377

Exploration, p. 377. Physical Features, p. 379. Rivers, p. 383. Climate, p. 387. Flora,
p. 388. Fauna, p. 389. Inhabitants, 390. Topography, p. 404. Italian Somaliland,
p. 409. British Somaliland, p. 412.

XIII. East Afurax Islands 416

Sokotra, p 416. Physical Features, p. 418. Topography, p. 419. M.idaga.sear. p. 420.
Historic Retrospect, p. 421. Exploration, p. 42G. Physical Features, p. 427. Rivers,
p. 429. Climate, p. 432. Flora, p. 433. Fauna, p. 436. Inhabitants, p. 438. Sotial
Condition, p. 448. Topography, p. 455. Hova and French Administration, p. 4C3. The
Comoro Islands, p. 460. The Amirantcs and Seychelles, p. 471.

Statistical Tables 475

Index ............ ... 497

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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

MAPS PRINTED IN COLOURS.

Afrioa, shswing European Annexations and

Claims

Cape Colony, Natal, and adjacent Territories 178
80 Madagascar 424

PLATES.

Group of Zulus .... Frontispiece.
View taken on the Banks of the Eio Dande

To face page 6
Landscape near Qnissama, South of the Congo 16
Quissama Man and Woman .... 24

Loanda — General View 38

Mossamedes — (General View .... 50
View taken at Walvisch Bay .... 64
Angra Pequena — View taken from Nauulu-s

Point 76

The Lion's Head, Cape Town . . .82

Scene on the Limpopo — The Malikoe-Marico

Ford in Transvaal ..... 94
Bushman Encampment . . . . .108
Cape Town — General View . . . .126

Port Elizabeth 134

Convoy of Emigr.antsin the Makaraka Country 144
Kimberley and its Diamond Mine . . . 152
Shoshong, Former Capital of the Ba-Mang-

watos 162

Kafir Man and TVoman 172

Port Natal and Durban— View from the Blutt . 184
Landscape on the East Frontier of Transvaal . 206
General View of Pretoria in 1886 . . .212

A Zulu Kraal . ... To face page 226
The Gonye Falls on the Zambese . . . 242
View taken at the Zambese and Chobe Con-
fluence 248

Barotse Types 256

View at Sesheke, Former Capital of Barotse . 264

Rovuma and Lujenda Confluence . . . 286
Wasagara Types . . . . . .314

Lindi — Seaward View 318

Zanzibar 328

Masai Women of Njiri 368

Somali Types 392

GaUa Types 400

Street in Berbera 412

View taken on the Koute between Andovoranto

and Tananarivo, Madagascar . . 424
Diego-Suarez Bay — View taken at Antsirana . 432
Tananarivo — General View from the West . 456
Malagasy Village of Nossi-Be . . . 460
Said Ali, Sultan of Great Comoro, and a Prin-
cess of Great Comoro .... 468

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LIST OP TLT.USTEATIONS.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATION'S.

9.
10.
11.

12.

IG.
17.
IS.
10.

1 . Routes of the Chief E.xplorcr.s in Angola

2. The Ciinene and Etosha I,agoon

3. Vegetahlc Zones of Anfjola
■1. Ancient Kini^dom of Congo

5. Mn-SonoNoo Wojian

6. Inhabitants of An.Lrola

7. Routes of Explorers who have crossed the

Continent

San-Salvador .....
TuK Kino of Conoo
Ambriz . . .
Southern Spit of Loanda .
St. Paul of Loanda ....
n. Dondo

11. Projected Railway to Ambaca .
" Black Stones " of Pungo Ndongo .

Mabiufre

Tiger Ray and the ('imeno

(Thief Zones of Useful Plants in Angola

Coffen-growing Region of Angola .

JO. Chief Routes of Explorers in Damara
lund ......

2 1 . Horero Laud . . . ■ .

■12. "Walvisch Bay

23. Angra Pequena ....

24. South-West African Highland.s

25. Cape Agidhas

26. Relief of South Africa

27. The Orange Falls ....

28. The ••''aixs of the Ouanoe

29. Gate of the St. .John River

30. Delagoa Bay

3 1 . Agulhas Bank

32. Isothermals of South Africa

33. Rainfall of South Africa .

34. South-African Hottentot Tribes in tl

, Middle of the Eighteenth Century

35. Hottentots, Kafirs, and Bo-Chuanas .
30. Aborigines and Colonists ...

37. Successive British Annexations in SoutI,

Africa ......

38. CapeTowTi

39. Saldanha Bay

40. Mouth of the Brecde— Port Beaufort
■11. Port Elizabeth

12. South African Lines of Steam Navigation

and Cables

43. Administrative Divisions of Caoc Colony

and Neighbouring Territories
Griqualand West ....
River Diggings in the Vaal Basin
Section of the Great Kimberley Mine from

North to South

I\iMDERi,EY : Appeabanoe op the Mink

IN 1880

App.vratds fok baisino the Diamanti

FEROUS EaUIII ....

44
4S

47.
13.

10
13
17
18
•23

29
33
34
37
38
39
41
42
44
46
54
.5.5
.56

61
70
73
76
80
82
8.5
87
89
91
93
96
98
100

113
115
123

124
126
129
131
133

142

145

148
150

1.52

153

loo

inc.
49.

50,
ol.
52.
53,
54.
55,
50,
57,
58,
59,
00.
61.
62,
63.
64.
65.

66.
67.
6S.
69.
70.
71.
72.
73.
74.
75.

76.
77.
78.
79.
80.
81.
82.
83.
84.
85.
86.
87.
88.
89.
90.

91.
92.
93.

94.
95.
96.
97.
9H.
99.

Chief Routes of Explorers North of ^ the
Orange River ....

Slio.shong ......

Trade Routes in Becliu-iualand .

Basutoland

Kafirland ......

South Kafirland ....

Natal ......

The Bluff of Natal ....

Port Natal and Durban

St. Lucia Lagoou and Backwaters .

Treks of tho Boers ....

Range of the Tsetse Fly .
The Transvaal Gold Fields

Pretoria

liorcnco Marques ....
Tho Louren(,'0 Marques-Pretoria Riiilway
Cliief Routes of Explorers between the

Limpopo and Zambese
Maiiica and Gorongoza Highlands .
Zambese-Kubango Basin ....
Region of Uncertain Watcrpartiugs i
Kassai, Ku-Bango, and Zambese

Victoria Falls

The Laputa Gorge .....

Region between Nyassa and Tanganyika .
Zambese and Shire Confluence .
Zambese Delta ......

Inhabitants of tlic Wat*..ri)artiug between

tho Congo and Zambese
Barotse Uplands .....

Chief Tribes of the Zambese Basin .
North End of Lake NyAssa
Uplands between the Shire and Nyassa
Quelimano ......

Chief Route of Exijlorers East of Nyassa .
Namuli Mountains .....

Lakes Kilwa, Chiuta, and Amaramba
Mouth of the Rovuma ....

Ports and Reefs of North Mozambique
(jhief Nations of Mozambique .
Landscape in Lujenda ....

Mozambique and its Ports

Ports of Feraao Vellozo ....

Chief Routes of Exjdorers North of the

Rovuma ......

The Rufiji Delta

Maviiia Types

East African Tribes between the Rovuma

.and Pagani . .....

Ports of Mikindani and Mto-Mtwara
Kiloa-Kisiwani .....

The Two Kiloas

Dar-es-Salaam .....

Bagamoyo. ......

Oceanic and Landward Coasts of Pemba,

compared ......

156
103
164
107
171
176
180
135
186
194
203
208
210
213
217
218

223
232
236
238
241
244
246
249
251
252

257
263
268
274
277
279
282
283
284
287
288
292
293
296
298

302
306
311

313
317
318
320
.321
323

326

IvIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

100.
101.
102.
103.

104.
105.

loe.

107.
108.
109.
110.
111.

Hi.

113.
114.
11.5.

116.
117.
118.
119.
120.
1-21.
122.
123.

PAGE

Island of Mafia 328

Zanzibar ...... 331

Pemba ....... 334

Chief Routes of Explorers in the Kilima-

Njaro Region 337

Lino of Volcanic Fault, Masai Land . 338
Region between Zanzibar and Lake

NySnza 340

Lacustrine Region West of Mount Kenia 342

Kiliraa-Njaro and Nyika Uplands . . 343

liilima-Njaro 344

KiBo, Westeen Peak of Kilima-Njaro 347

Tribes North of the Pangani . . . 359

Masai Waeeiors 365

Mombasa 371

Ports and Hills of Mombasa . . 372

Malindi and Vasco de Gama's Pillar . 373
Chief Routes of Explorers in Somali

Land 378

Cape Guardafui . . . . .381

Cape Guardafui . . . . . 383

Ras Hafiln 384

Mouths of the Juba and Bubashi . . 385

Lower Course of the Webi . . . 386

SomaU Territory 392

Somali Woman 394

Vitu Land 403

FIG. PAGE

124. Double Coastline North of Bubashi . . 405

125. Jebel Karoma 406

126. Kismayu 408

127. Magdoshu 410

128. Berbera 413

129. Sokotra 417

130. South-East Corner of Madagascar . . 423

131. Chief Routes of E.xplorers in Madagascar 425

132. Lagoons on the East Coast of Mada-

gascar 430

133. Erosions on the East Coast and Anton-

Gil Bay 431

134. Circular Forest Zone, Madagascar . . 434

135. Ravoninahitranioeivo, HovA lIiinsTEE . 439

136. Betsileo Woman 441

137. Inhabitants of Madaga.scar . . . 443

138. Tananarive and Environs . . . 4-56

139. Tamatave 458

140. Diego-Suarez Bay 459

141. Nossi-Be 461

142. North-Wost Coast of Madagascar . . 463

143. Ambohimanga, Holy City of the Hovas . 465

144. The Comoro Islands . . . .467

145. Mayotte 470

146. Seychelles 472

147. Submarine Banks of Madagascar and the

Mascarenhas 473

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AFRICA AND ITS INHABITANTS.

SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

e^'i^iii^ij

CHAPTER I.

PORTUGUESE WEST AFRICA (aNGOLa).

VER since the Portuguese navigators penetrated beyond the equator
into the southern waters, or at least since the year 1482, when
Diego Cam set up the stone at the mouth of the Congo indicating
the formal possession of the land south of that estuary, the portion
of the African seaboard extending southwards from the Congo has
been regarded as belonging to the crown of Portugal. Since the year 1574, when
a small Lusitanian colony was established in the island of Loanda, the relations
between Lisbon and Angola have never been interrupted. This first section of
the coast was originally occupied by seven hundred men commanded by Paul Diaz,
grandson of the pioneer who discovered the Cape of Good Hope ; but European
households were not properly constituted till the year 1595, when the first Portu-
guese women arrived in the settlement.

General Sur\'ey.

In many newly discovered regions several generations have often passed after
the first appearance of the whites before they have succeeded in acquiring any
effective supremacy over the natives. But in this part of the African seaboard the
Portuguese have never ceased for over three hundred years in exercising sovereign
rights, or at least in maintaining alliances with the 'surrounding populations.
Even in 1641, when the Dutch captured the strongholds on the coast, some
Portuguese oflBcials and others remained in the country, upholding the traditional
sovereignty of the ancient Mtiata Potii, "King of Portugal," or rather of the
Mueni Mpofii, " King of the sea." Nor were they long neglected by the mother
countrj-, a squadron despatched from Brazil having soon reconquered the colony.

AFRICA IV. b

SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

The centres of Portuguese colonisation were naturally the seaports, frorii which
points European influences graduallj' spread inland. Notwithstanding many
vicissitudes of success and defeat, the ascendancy of the Portuguese, pioneers of a
higher culture, penetrated at last bej'ond the coast ranges and plateaux far to the
east of the great depression traversed by the Congo. This diffusion of Portuguese
authority was largely due to the fact that the intertribal communications were much
more easily effected on the southern slopes and upland plains than along the wild
and rugged gorges through which the great river forced its way from fall to fall
to the Atlantic seaboard. Doubtless Stanley's great expedition has suddenly
shifted the equilibrium of the continent, and the region of the fluvial basin has
now become the chief centre of geographical progress and of the great events that
are rapidly bringing about the social and political transformation of the land.
But this very circumstance has aroused Portugal from her lethargy, and stimulated
her to redoubled efforts in opening up the vast domain which she has inherited,
and her exclusive dominion over which is henceforth guaranteed by international
treaties.

The numerous expeditions of Capello and Ivens, and of Serpa Pinto, attest the
importance which the Portuguese now attach to the systematic exploration of their
great colony in south-west Africa. The American missionaries stationed in the
Bihe district have also of late years contributed much to the geographical study of
Angola. The superficial area of the whole territory, including that portion of the
former empire of Lunda acquired by Portugal in 1891, has been approximately
estimated at 485,000 square miles. The population of the districts that have
been roughly surveyed amounts to about four hundred and forty thousand ;
but including the independent nations and the communities connected with
Portugal by the more or less solid relations of vassalage, the whole population of
the region lying between the Atlantic and the Free State can scarcely be
estimated at less than four millions. According to Chavaane's calculations,
the density of the population in the northern district between Ambriz and the
Congo exceeds twelve persons to the square mile, a proportion which would give
as many as ten millions for the Portuguese possessions, taken in their widest
sense. To the whole region has been extended the name of Angola (Ngola), a
term originally restricted to the pro'S'ince h'ing cast of Loanda, between the rivers
Cuanza and Bengo. Some of the kinglets in the interior still bear this name of
Ngola.

The province of Angola has often been compared to Brazil, the vast region
which faces it on the opposite side of the Atlantic. But the " African Brazil,"
which has not yet been detached from the mother country whence it received
its first settlers, is far inferior to its potent rival in extent, natural resources,
economic importance, and general importance amongst the civilised, or at least
organised, lands of the globe. Nevertheless a real analog}' is presented by the
geographical structure of Angola and Brazil. In both regions a great river is
developed to the north of the plains and elevated plateaux ; in both the relief of
the land is formed by a series of terraces rising step by step one above the other,

ANGOLAN UPLANDS.

aud sepitrated by intervening ranges, which are disposed parallel with the coast-
line. Their position under corresponding parallels of latitude gives to both
countries analogous climates and similar vegetable products, and at the same

Fig. 1. — Routes of the Chiep Exploeees in Angola.

Scale 1 : 10,000,000.

.--i^

'*San Salvador Si

■%

15°: ==? ju V r-^-i^-

■-<.,-'

•1

ft^-'

■9.

;r«en°

'/r\

\-?%^

<*•"

h.asb of Greenwich

15°-

20°

Depths.

0 to 1,000 1,000 to 1,600 1,600 to 2,000 2,0C* Faihomsand

Fathoms. Fathoms. Fathoms. upwards.

180 Miles.

time enables the inhabitants of each to migrate freely from one to the other
without suffering much inconvenience from the change of climate. If Brazil has
been enabled to develop a mixed white, Negro, and Indian population of over

b 2

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i.'

4 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

sixteen millions, there is nothing to prevent the territory of Angola from also
becoming the home of a numerous people with a strong sentiment of national
cohesion, instead of being occupied as at present by a few colonial groups almost
lost amid the surrounding hostile populations. Nor should it be forgotten in
forecasting its future prospects, that there is at last an end of the slave trade,
by which the Brazilian plantations were peopled for nearly three himdrei^ years
at the cost of Angola.

Physical Features.

In the northern part of the territory limited on the north by the Congo,
eastwards by the Kwango, and towards the south by the Cuanza, the section
of the plateau exceeding 3,000 feet occupies not more than one half of the
eastern zone. It consists of gneiss and mica schists, whose surface is disposed
in long ridges, which the running waters have scored with deep gorges. The
western slope, facing the Atlantic coast, presents on the whole a more gentle incline
than the opposite side, where the escarpments fall rapidly towards the Kwango
basin. The Cuanza, with its copious alSueut, the Lu-Calla, interrupts the parallel
series of ridges, which run uniformly north and south, and which are continued
in the same direction beyond these watercourses. Thus the elevated mountain
ridges are continuous only in the south-eastern section of the plateau, where
the Talla Mangongo border range separates the upper course of the Kwango
affluents from those of the Cuanza, and gradually merges by gentle undulations
in the waterparting between the Kassai and the Zambese.

South of the Cuanza, a series of three parallel steps follows from the sea
towards the elevated range which forms the backbone of the land, and which
runs at a mean distance of a hundred and twenty miles from the Atlantic.
Lofty crests rise above the ridges of this intermediate plateaVi, which is cut up
by the streams into several secondary ridges. Here Mount Lovili, under the
twelfth degree of latitude, attains an elevation of 7,800 feet ; Mount Elongo,
towards the south-west, rises to a height of 7,600 feet, and several other peaks
on the neighbouring ranges fall little short of these altitudes. In the Jamba,
or Andrade-Corvo chain, forming the eastern scarp of the plateau, some of the
summits exceed 6,G00 feet. Most of the higher ranges are here disposed in
ridges dominated at intervals by peaks and rounded crests ; some however of
these ambas, as they are called, appear to be completely isolated, standing out
like pyramids in the middle of a plain. Thus Mount Hambi (7,240 feet)
consists of an enormous crag rent down the centre, and presenting the appear-
ance of a huge block of metal fissured during the process of cooling. At the
eastern foot of the Jamba Mountains stretches the Bulum-Bulu steppe, which
is overgrown with tall s-rasses heavinjr under the wind like the ocean waves.

Taken collectively, these ranges, massive uplands and elevated plains, which
are traversed by the trade route between Benguella and Bih^, constitute the
culminating part of Angola. Towards the south the plateau decreases considerably

. , ANGOLAN UPLANDS. 6

•
in height, the highest points here falling below 6,000 feet. Farther west the

summits, rising on a plateau inferior to the eastern terrace, also fail to reach the

altitude of Mount Lovili and the neighbouring peaks, although several present an

imposing appearance, thanks to their isolated position, and the steep slope of their

flanks. Such are the crags which lie some 60 miles to the east of Benguella, and

which, rfrom their peculiar outlines, have received the name of Binga-Yam-Bambi,

or " Gazelle Horns." According to Magyar, they exceed 3,000 feet in height,

while the neighbouring Olombingo peak is said to attain an elevation of over

5,000 feet.

The more westerly summits, standing on the last terrace of the plateau as it
falls seawards, vary in altitude from 600 or 700 to 2,000 feet. Developing at
their base precipitous cliffs, they present in many places the aspect of veritable
mountains. But most of the hills skirting the coast are mere table rocks, rising
little more than 300 or 400 feet above the terraces. They are usually flanked by
steep slopes of talus formation, but may be surmoimted by following the long
winding valleys of erosion, which have been excavated at intervals in the thickness
of the plateau.

In the southern region of the Angola territory, the uplands of the interior
have everywhere been denuded and eroded to great depths, by the affluents of the
Cimene and the torrents of the coastlands. Nevertheless the Chella, or Sierra da
Neve, that is, " Snowy Range," a superb mountain mass to the east of Mossamedes,
has maintained its integrity in isolated grandeur, some of its crests falling Kttle
short of 6,300 feet. It owes its alternative Portuguese name to the white streaks
sometimes visible in the more elevated crevasses, after the heavj' rains brought by
the cold southern winds. These highlands, whence flows an abundance of running
waters, appear to present the most favourable prospects for the future colonisation
of Angola. The climate approaches, nearer than that of any other of the
Portuguese possessions in Africa, to the conditions prevailing in the south of
Europe, while the mean altitude of the upland valleys is about the same as that of
Angola generally, being approximately estimated at 4,000 feet.

The Angola highlands are composed of gneiss and other crystalline rocks under-
lying schistose formations of great age. These rocks, forming the outer frame-
work of the land, make their first appearance at a mean distance of from 12 or 15
miles from the coast. Here the sedimentary rocks, and in many places those of
the interior, belong to the Secondary and Tertiary periods, consisting of sandstones,
conglomerates, limestones, clays and sands generally disposed in perfectly regular
stratifications. The cretaceous deposits, which run parallel with the coast, cover-
ing the outer slopes of the hills in the Benguella district, abound in fossils identi-
cal with those which occur in the corresponding formations in Portugal.

For long stretches the characteristic geological strata are concealed by lateriteSj
white, yellow, or red, of relatively modem origin, which have been formed by the
decomposed surface of the underlying layers. The river basins of the interior
have moreover been strewn with alluvial deposits due to the action of running
waters.

6 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

The limestone cliffs are in many places pierced by deep caverns, where are
found narrow and hiflicrto unfathomed wells, which have given rise to numeroiis
native legends. Thermal springs occur at various points of the territory ; but no
volcanic rocks have been found, except in the northern districts, and even here the
eruptive forces appear to have been limited to a few outbursts of basaltic lavas.
Ladislas Magyar spoke of a volcano, but without stating whether he vlaited it
himself, and there is every reason to believe that he was deceived by false reports,
possibly even by the romantic but untrustworthy descriptions of the traveller
J. B. Douville.* This active volcano, known as the Mulondo-Zambi, or " Demon
Mountain," was reported to lie in the LiboUo country some 30 miles to the south
of the Cuanza. From the highest crater, overlooking all the surrounding crests,
flames and smoke emitting a strong sulphurous odour were said to be ejected at
intervals of three or four hours. The natives never venture to approach this
burning mountain, which they suppose to be inhabited by the spirits of their
ancestors. But all these reported eruptions will probably sooner or later be
explained by some meteorological phenomena, like those of the pretended Otumbi
volcano in the Gaboon territory.

Ei\-ER Basins.

Limited eastwards by the course of the Kwango, the Angola region is traversed
by numerous streams, which either flow through deep gorges across one or more
of the outer terraces of the plateau, or else, like the Cuanza and the Cunene, force
their way seawards through the whole breadth of the intervening uplands. In
the northern section of the territory, where the annual rainfall is relatively
heavier than in the south, every valley has its perennial stream, although these
rivers are prevented by the disposition of the rugged surface from imiting in one
large fluvial system, A considerable number of the streams however flow, not
directly seawards, but either to the east in the direction of the Kwango, or north-
wards through the Kwilu, Lu-fu and Mposo to the Congo. Those which, like the
Lelunda, Mbrish, and Loje, reach the Atlantic directly, are disposed in parallel
valleys in the direction from east to west. But their mouths are nearly all closed
to shipping by impassable bars, so that they are accessible only to small flat-
bottomed craft.

The Mbrish, which escapes from the Zombo highlands to the east of San-
Salvador, develops a series of cascades, the first of which has a fall of 150 feet, and
the whole chain of rapids a total incline of 430 feet. The Dand^ and Bengo,
however, being navigable above their bars, present certain advantages as highways
of commerce in the interior, and their shady banks are lined with plantations.

But the chief river in Angola, and one of the most copious of the secondary

watercourses in the whole of Africa, is the Cuanza, whose vaUey forms the Atlantic

section of the transverse depression which is continued through the Zambese basin

south-eastwards to the Indian Ocean. The chief headstreams of the Cuanza have

* " Voyage au Congo et dans I'mterieur de I'Afrique equinoiiale."

. •• ►

ANGOLAN EIVEES. 7

their sources beyond the region directly subject to Portuguese rule, intermingling
their flood waters with those of the Zanibese and of the Ku-Bango on a plateau
which has a mean altitude of not less than 5,500 feet. The farthest source of
the mainstream is the little Lake Mussombo, some 720 miles from the coast, by
the windings of the fluvial valley. From this point the Cuanza describes a vast
semicircle, flowing at first towards the north-east and then to the north, after
which it sweeps round to the north-west and west, finally trending to the south-
west in its last meander seawards. More than half of its course lies to the east of
the upland terraces and plateaux which form the backbone of Angola. By the
dirfV3tion of its upper valley it seems inclined to become a tributary of the Congo,
but on reaching the Ba-Songa territory, where it has already become a copious
stream, it curves round to the west, and forces its way over a long series of wild
gorges, falls and rapids, through the intervening mountain barriers seawards.
The Cambambe cataract, last of the series, 70 feet high, is also Ivnown as the
"Livingstone falls," although never visited by the illustrious explorer. It is
formed by a ledge of schistose rock confined on both sides by nearly vertical walls.
During the floods the whole gorge is completely filled with the seething waters,
but during the dry season the current is broken by projecting crags into several
foaming channels of imequal size. The emerged rocks, damp with the spray of
the tumbling waters, are overgrown with the Angolwa fluitans, a plant with large
semi-transparent stem and covered with small white flowers.

Immediately below the cataracts the Cuanza is accessible to steamers, no
obstacle interferuig with the navigation all the way to the sea, although in this
section of the river, about 120 miles long, there is a total fall of over 300 feet.
The rocky gorge is continued for 10 miles beyond the rapids, between high red,
white, or bluish cliSs, to which an endless variety of shades and forms is added
by the climbing plants, tufted brushwood, and drapery of velvet mosses.

Below the gcft'ge the main stream is joined by the Mucoso, a considerable
affluent from the north, and farther on, also on the right bank, by the still more
copious Lu-Calla (Lua-Kalla), largest of all its tributaries. Like the Cuanza
itself, the Lu-Calla rises to the east of the Angola highlands, and like it forces
its way through them in a series of gorges where it plunges in its headlong
course from fall to fall. The Lianzimdo, one of these falls, is no less than 100
feet in height. The Lu-Calla also describes a vast semicircle, but exactly in the
contrary direction to that of the Cuanza, for it takes its rise in the northern part
of the Portuguese possessions, not far from the streams which flow on the oppo-
site watershed down to the Congo.

After its junction with the Lu-Calla, the Cuanza is swollen by no further
contributions from any direction, but on the contrary discharges its waters to
the right and left, into numerous lagoons or lateral reservoirs, which are succes-
sively flooded and almost completely emptied with the alternating wet and dry
seasons. In the lower reaches the hills continually recede more and more from
the fluvial bed, although a few bluffs still rise here and there along the banks of
the river. One of these on the left side is the famous Pedro dos Feiticeiros,

• >

8 sotrrn and east afeica.

or " Fetish Rock," over which the Quissamas formerly hurled the imhappy
wretches accused of ■witchcraft.

The mouth of the Cuanza is obstructed by a dangerous bar, which is usually
crossed by the local pilots on a raft, or rather a single plank of hcrminiera wood
about 8 feet long and scarcely 3 feet wide. Kneeling on this spar, they steer
their course with the aid of a single paddle, and thus reach the steamers which
ride at anchor over a mile from the coast.

South of the Cuanza as far as the Cunene, none of the streams rising on the
outer slopes of the mountains or in the western valleys can acquire any great
development, nor are any of them utilised for navigation. They also flow
through a region enjopng a less abundant rainfall than Northern Angola, so
that many of them are completely exhausted during the dry season. They thus
resemble the wadys of North and the umarambas or intermittent streams of
South Africa.

The chief permanent rivers are the Luga, running parallel with the lower
Cuanza ; the Cuvo (Keve), which discharges into Old Benguella Bay ; the
Bailombo, the Catumbella, and the Coporolo. Of all these little coast streams
the Catumbella is the best known, owing to the vicinity of the city of Benguella.
About 7 miles from the sea it develops the romantic cataract of Upa, where
the whole stream is pent up within a rocky gorge scarcely 9 yards wide.

The Cunene, which in Angola yields in length and volume to the Cuansia alone,
acquired exceptional importance in 1886, when its lower course became the line of
demarcation between the Portuguese possessions and the territory annexed to the
German colonial empire. Like the Cuanza, it rises to the east of the central high-
lands, and flows at first along the inner continental slope jointly with the Ku-Bango,
and the eastern affluents of the Zambese ; but after escaping from this basin it
describes a great bend to the west, piercing the intervening rocky barriers on its
south-westerly course to the Atlantic. It develops altogether a total length
of no less than 720 miles, the area of its drainage being estimated at about
110,000 square miles. Rising in the Jamba Mountains, over four degrees to
the north of the latitude of its estuary, it skirt^ the southern and south-western
base of the central uplands, collecting on both banks a large number of affluents
during its winding upper and middle course.

At Quiteve, a riverain village some 240 miles from its sources, Capello and
Ivens found that even in June, that is, in the dry season, it had a breadth of
nearly 500 feet, with a mean depth of over 8 feet. It flows between wooded
banks with great velocity, but unobstructed by cataracts. During the rainy
season this beautiful stream assumes the proportions of a mighty watercourse,
fully justifying its native'name of Cunene, that is, Ku-Nene, or " Great River."
At this period it overflows its banks to the right and left, flooding the surround-
ing plains for several miles. At one point a depression many square miles in
extent is transformed to a vast reservoir which receives the overflow of the upper
Cxmene. After the subsidence of the waters, this depression is strewn with
small lakes and stagnant meres ; the muddy bottom-lands are overgrown with

(•'

ANGOLAN EIVEES. 9

tall reeds (ariindo phragmites), while the bmshwood on the higher grounds is
covered to a height of 3 or 4 feet with the tufts of herbaceous vegetation borne
along bj' the flood waters.

In this extensive plair, alternately a lake and a morass, the Cunene is joined
by the Caculovar (Kakulo-Bale, or " Old Bale "), a considerable stream which
collect^ all the waters descending from the Snowj' Range (Chella) and from the
HuiUa cirques. According to the unanimous testimony of travellers and residents,
this region of the middle Cunene, notwithstanding its marshy character, is by no
means insalubrious, a circumstance perhaps due to the antiseptic action of the mosses
covering the surface of the waters, and probably also to the elevation of the land.
The height of the plain about the confluence of the Cunene with the Caculovar
was estimated by Capello and Ivens at about 3,500 feet, while Dufour, another
explorer, found that the village at the confluence itself stood at an altitude
of 3,800 feet.

This elevated lacustrine district has other emissaries besides the Cunene.
At least three watercourses, designated by the generic name of nmaramba,
branch ofE from the left bank of the river through broad openings in the en-
circling cliffs. They take a southerly or south-easterly course, meandering
through the territory of the Ova-Mpos as far as the great saline marsh of Etosha,
which is distant 150 miles and situated at a level 330 feet lower than the main
stream. TJie Cunene thus presents the extremely rare example of an incom-
pleted delta, for in virtue of these lateral channels it belongs to the system of
watercourses which, like the Ku-Bango, are lost in the depressions of the desert.

Down to the middle of the present century the true course of the Cunene
was still unknown, and on Lopez de Lima's map, which embodies the state of
geographical knowledge at that period, it is represented as flowing eastwards in
the direction of the Indian Ocean. But it is now known to reach the Atlantic
after forcing its wily through the intercepting western highlands. So early as the
year 1824 the English vessel, the Espiegle, had landed near the mouth of the
Cunene, which was then named the Nourse River ; yet the very next year Owen
failed to discover the opening, doubtless because the bar had meantime been closed,
and the river exhausted for a long way above its mouth. The entrance was not
rediscovered till the year 1854, when the river was ascended for some 25 miles
from the coast. Even now the Cunene reaches the sea only during the rainy
season, from December to April. At other times the abundant waters rolled down
with the inundations of the upper basin are nearly completely evaporated in the
vast lacustrine reservoirs of the middle course, nothing remaining for the lower
reaches except a puny stream which soon runs out in the sands. Our knowledge
of the Cunene was completed in 1896 by Dr. Essler, who found its lower course
obstructed by a continued series of reefs and rapids, and consequently useless for
navigation. There is, however, a never-failing supply of potable water ; and this
explorer also discovered a little south of its mouth a well-sheltered and easily
accessible inlet, which he named Port Auguda-Vidoria, in the expectation that
the German Government would here establish a military post and trading station.

' »

SOUTH AND EAST APEICA.

Climate of Angola.

Stretching north and south a total distance of over 720 miles between the
sixth and seventeenth parallels of northern latitude, and presenting a series of
terraces rising to a height of over 6,000 feet, the Angola territory naturally
offers a great diversity of climate. But although the meteorological conditi-'ns and
all the corresponding phenomena are moditiud with the latitude and relief of the

Fig. 2. — The Cttnene aud Etosiu Laooon.

Scale 1 : R.ooo nrm.

t.asboFG.-eenw.cH

Depths.

0 to 320 320 Feet and

Feet. iipwardB.

130 Miles.

land, the actual extremes of temperature are but slight in the several physical
zones. Hence travellers suffer quite as much from the fiery solar rays on the
elevated plateaux of the interior as on the low-lying coastlands. The thermo-
metric differences, however, become more pronounced with the alternating seasons
of heat and cold, according as we advance farther from the equator and from the
seaboard. The local variations of climate due to accidental conditions are often
very great and extremely dangerous to strangers. In some of the upland districts

ANGOLAN CLIMATE.

it freezes, as in Europe, and even at an altitude of 3,500 feet on tlie eastern slopes
of the mountains, Capello and Ivens had to endure great extremes of temperature,
from freezing-point at night to 82" and even 86^ F. during the day.

The most continuous meteorological observations have been taken at Loanda,
capital of the colony, showing that at this place, although lying not more than
600 nJiles to the south of the equator, the great summer heats are less intense
than at Lisbon. Thus the maximum temperature in February, the hottest month
at Loanda, is greater than that of August, the hottest in Portugal. Travellers
leaving Lisbon in summer for Angola are surprised at the relative coolness of
these tropical regions. In fact the mean temperature of Loanda scarcely exceeds
73° F., while the annual divergence between the thermometric extremes for each
month is not usually more than twenty degrees. But between the greatest
heat and the greatest cold the discrepancy rose in 1879 to nearly thirty-four
degrees, the glass falling from 88° F. in November to 55° F. in August. On the
inland plateaux imder the same latitude and at an elevation of 5,300 feet, the
discrepancy is twice as great, ranging from freezing-point to 98° F. At Mos-
samedes, which of all the coast towns enjoys the most equable climate, the annual
temperature oscillates from thirty-six to thirty-eight degrees, and this place
presents the most favourable conditions for the acclimatisation of European
residenis.

The relative coolness of the Angolan climate is due to the direction of the
marine breezes, which generally blow from the temperate southern regions. In
these latitudes the coast stream setting from the Antarctic zone has sufficient in-
fluence to considerably lower the normal temperature of the surrounding waters
and atmospheric layers ; hence the name of Cabo Frio, or " Cold Cape," given to
the headland lying to the south of the Cunene. A neighbouring creek is also
known as the Angra Fria, or " Cold Bay." Even north of the Cunene the coast-
lands benefit by this cool marine current, although to a less degree, and its in-
fluence is known to be felt as far north as the island of Sam-Thome. Off Loanda
its mean velocity is about 1 1 mile^ per hour, but it is at times completely arrested
or even partly reversed by violent gales from the north-west. Generally speak-
ing, the southern breezes prevail greatly over those from the north along this
seaboard, where the trade-winds rarely maintain their normal direction from the
south-east to the north-west, being deflected by the rarefied air from the hot
regions of the interior, and thus transformed to south-westerly and even westerly
monsoons. According to Ribeiro, the marine breezes stand to those of the conti-
nent in the proportion of rather more than five to two. From the observations
regularly taken at Malange, over 180 miles from the «ea, it appears that in this
inland district, notwithstanding its great distance from the alternating land and
seacoast breezes (terml and vira^uo), a certain rhythm is stiU maintained between
the easterly and westerly winds. According to Hann, the former prevail especi-
ally in the morning, the latter in the afternoon, the aerial current thus showing
a tendency to set from the quarter of the heavens where the sim is found.

Under the influence of the vapour-charged monsoons there is always a con-

12 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

eiderablc quantity of moisture present in the atmosphere* From May to Septem-
ber it often almost reaches the point of saturation, and then the horizon is
everywhere veiled in the dense fogs of the cacimho. Yet the rainfall is compara-
tively slight in the low-lying districts, the vapours being borne by the winds to the
slopes of the hills, where frequent downpours occur regularly during the light
rainy season from October to January, and the heavy from the bcginnijig of
April to the end of May. At Loanda the annual rainfall varies to a remarkable
degree,t the average number of wet days being not more than fifteen in some years
and four times as many in others. Over 20 inches have sometimes fallen in
favourable years, while at other times the quantity has scarcelj' exceeded j or
6 inches.

In the northern districts the first rains are always unhealthy, the air being
then charged with the foul exhalations with which the porous soil is saturated,
and which are mingled with the decayed vegetation suddenl}' washed up from
below the surface. In the direction from north to south the quantity of the rain-
fall diminishes progressively along the low-lying coastlands. Copious at San-
Salvador, J slight at Loanda, it ceases nearly altogether at Mossamedes and in
the Lower Cunene basin. Ilcnce this southern region lies on the verge of the
desert, but is at the same time the most salubrious in Angola, thanks to the
great dryness of the atmosphere and the ground, as well as to the relative coolness
of the temperature. On the plateaux skirting the south side of the Lower Cunene
the Quissama natives arc obliged carefully to husband the rainwater in the hollow
trunks of the baobabs.

Flora.

Since the explorations of Welwitsch in the province of Angola, the face of
the land is well known in its broad features, and nothing now remains except to
study its details. Hence the name of this learned botanist has justly been given
to the Wclicitschia inirabi/is, the most remarkable plant in this part of the conti-
nent. This tree, for it really is a tree, although in appearance more like an
eccentric fungus than aught else, grows in the Mossamedes district, ranging north-
wards only as far as the mouth of the intermittent river Sam-Nicolau, but reach-
ing, south of the Cunene, far into the Bamara country. The trunk, which is said
to live for a hundred years, and which attains a compass of ten or twelve feet,

• Relative humidity during the three years 1879, 1880, and 1881—

Mean .... 82-42

Highest mean .

. . 87-69

Lowest mean . 76'69

Mean variation .

. . 10-84 (Coelho and Ribeiro),

ainfall at Loanda : —

Rainy Total Rainfall.
Days. Inches.

1879.

• • >

62 24

1880.

34 10

1881.

....

15 6

Mean 34 13 (Ribeiro)

X Rainfall at San-Salvador in 1884, 63 days, with a total discharge of 36 inches.

ANGOLAN FLORA.

terminates abruptly a few inches above the ground in a level surface compared by
Welwitsch to a " round table," but fissured and crevassed in all directions. From
its outer rim branch off two thick leaves nearly 8 feet long, which resemble two
great leather discs, and which are in fact the very first leaves, which have survived
since the plant began to sprout, and which have grown with the growth of the
tree itself. The edges of these strange leaves are frayed into niunerous snake-like
thongs, which have all the appearance of so many tentacles of a polype.
In the northern districts

Tig. .3. — Vegetable Zones of Angola.

Scale I : 15,000,000.

of Angola the flora differs
in i\o respects from that of
the Lower Congo. Here the
characteristic plants of the
landscape are everywhere the
arborescent euphorbias, the
eriodendrons, the bombax, and
wide-spread baobab. In some
of the valleys well sheltered
from the sea breezes and
abundantly watered, tropical
vegetation displays all its
variety *of great forest trees,
parasitic ^nd climbing plants.

But the exposed plateaux,
where the rainwater flows off
rapidly and where the sur-
face is covered only with a
thin layer of vegetable soil,
are overgrown • for vast
spaces with tall steppe
grasses, giving refuge to nu-
merous herds of large game.
But these boundless savan-
nahs are exposed to period-
ical queimadm, or conflagra-
tions, which sweep away all
living creatures down to the
very insects.

In the direction from north to south the vegetation grows scantier with the con-
tinuously decreasing rainfall. At a short distance south ofCape Padrao the primeval
forest descends to the water's edge, whereas it gradually recedes in the interior to the
south of the Cabe^a de Cobra settlement. Still farther south forests are nowhere seen
in the neighbourhood of the coast, and beyond Mossamedes the last lingering isolated
clumps disappear altogether, although behind the outer terraces the vast wildernesses
of the Sertao are still diversified with fine forest growths. In the same direction

Eastcf&reewWiclT (f

Unhealthy productive Relatively healthy
lands. productive lands.

Slightly prodactiTe
lands.

300 Miles.

14 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

from north to south certain characteristic species become gradually repLced by
others. Thus the hyphcvne gtiineemk, so common between the Congo estuary and
Ambriz, is not found on the southern coastlands, and in the Mossaracdcs district a
complete transition takes place from the flora of the equatorial regions to that of
the closed fluvial basins in South Africa. In this southern province the great
euphorbias, for instance, arc no longer seen, their place being gradually usurped
by the various gum-bearing species.

Wclwitsch's botanical record for the whole of the Angola territory comprises
three tliousand two hundred and twenty-seven species, of which one thousand
eight hundred and ninety are flowering plants. In this numerous catalogue are
included several indigenous forms, such as cactuses, a family formerly supposed to
be found only in the New World, but which are here grouped about the crests of
the plateau at great distances from the coast, and from all centres of colonisation.
A number of the local plants are highly prized by the natives on account of their
supposed magical properties, notably the poisonous erythrophl<tum giiineense, the
bark of which (iikissa) is used in judicial trials by ordeal, and the ncliii {dccamera
Jon's touanfis), a shrub whose branches are suspended above the houses as a protec-
tion against lightning. In the sandy tracts of the south, the roots of the euphor-
bias afford nutriment to a remarkable parasitic plant of the genus hydnora, which
dwells underground for the greater part of its existence, and then suddenly
projects above the surface a solitary stalk, whose extremity expands into a large
red flower, with a smell like that of putrid meat. This plant is endowed with
many virtues in the eyes of the natives, who employ its sap to give greater strength
to their fishing-lines and nets, and also utilise it especially as a specific against
several maladies.

On the other hand, the fruits of very few indigenous plants are gathered for
alimentary purposes. Thus, although the Angolan flora comprises no less than
thirty-two species of the vine, in but few localities are the grapes cither eaten or
pressed for making a little vdnc. The mariamhaiiU', or coffee shrub, however, which
grows wild in the forests of the interior, supplied the early planters with the first
stock cultivated by them. Welwitsch has also 'found in the Angolan forests tho
largo Libcrian species, which is already replacing the Arabian variety on so many
plantations. All other plants, whose roots, leaves, fruits or seeds serve as food,
have been introduced in Angola as in other parts of Africa either from Asia or
from the New World. The mango, one of these exotics, which however thrives
admirabl}% is rarely met in some districts, and especially along the banks of the
Cuauza, where its shade is supposed to cause ill-luck.

Fauna of Angola.

Transformations analogous to those of the flora have also taken place in the
Angolan fauna. Just as the indigenous plants disappear before foreign intruders,
wild animals withdraw farther and farther from the white man, his dogs and
other domestic breeds. Elephants are no longer seen in the neighbourhood of

ANGOLAN FAUNA.

the coasu, although down to the middle of this century they were still found
along the seaboard. In 1854 the first explorers of the Cunene met them in such
large numbers that it was proposed to call this watercourse the "Elephant
River." But being now driven from the plains, they have taken refuge in the
uplands and in the Chella mountains, where they range over the slopes and
highest summits.

Lions also frequently prowled at night about the streets of the coast towns.
After the rainy season especially they were very numerous, descending from the
steppes and forests of the interior on the track of the antelopes which came to
browsf on the tender herbage of the lowlands. They often attacked man himself,
and some thus acquiring a taste for human flesh, fell upon the shepherd in
preference to his flock. They were regarded as animal fetishes, and no native
would venture to speak of them without giving them the title of ngana, or "lord."
At present these felines have become rare, while panthers, and especially hyenas
of more than one species, are still numerous. The peixe-miillier, that is, " mer-
maid," or manatee, appears to have disappeared from all the Angolan rivers,
except the upper reaches of the Cuanza, and the hippopotamus has withdrawn
into the lateral lagoons of the rivers. But the jacares, or crocodiles, still infest
many of the streams, although sharks, so numerous north of the Congo, are never
seen on the southern coast.

In tBe provinces lying south of the Cuanza occur some animals imknown
north of that river. But zebras, as well as certain antelopes belonging to the
zone of the Orange and Zambese basins, are seen only on the verge of the great
southern steppes. It was probably one of these antelopes that the traveller
Brochado mistook for a dromedary, an animal that has not yet been introduced
into the country.

The order of birds is represented in Angola by a great variety of species, and
a considerable trafiic in songsters is carried on with Lisbon. The natives have
great faith in the omens furnished by the flight or the songs of birds, and
meeting a quioco [tekphonus erijthropterus) is always regarded as of favourable
augury. The corythrix paulina, a lovely little creature which feeds chieflj- on
seeds and fruits, is looked on as a potent magician whose cry strikes terror into
the stoutest heart. Houses and even whole villages have been deserted because
this bird happened to perch on a neighbouring branch and utter its fimereal note.
The fowlers who go to capture it in the forests on behalf of the Portuguese
dealers, are very careful to avoid all villages on their return with their prize,
for fear of being accused by the inhabitants of complicity in witchcraft. In
another respect this bird is very remarkable, the bright red colour of its wings
being soluble in water and yielding a certain proportion dJ copper (Monteiro).

Nearly aU the forests of the interior are inhabited by the honey-bird {cuculus
indicator), which, flitting from tree to tree, leads the honey-seekers to the hive,
and then waits patiently perched on a neighbouring branch for its share in the
plunder.

Except in some districts snakes are not common, but some varieties are

16 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

extremely dangerous, as, for instance, the ciispedeiro, or " spitter," whiUh when
irritated ejects an acrid and poisonous secretion that threatens those with blind-
ness whose eyes it touches. With the exception of ants and mosquitoes, insects
are comparatively rare on the Atlantic slope of Angola. Scarcely any are seen
during the rainy season, and butterflies make their appearance only for a few
weeks, or even daj's, when the hot weather sets in. But the neighbouring seas
are densely stocked, and the water seems at times one living mass, so choked is
it with fish, forming moving banks several square miles in extent. The natives
eat a small species of shark, as well as the pungo, a singing fish, whose thrilling
note, soft as the sound of a flute, is heard rising above the smooth surface. In
the rivers and especially in the shallow lagoons flooded during the inundations,
they capture the bagro, a species of siluroid six or eight feet long, which has the
property of living for hours on dry land.

Inhabitants of Angola.

The natives of Angola belong for the most part to the group of Bantu popula-
tions. But it seems probable that amongst them, as amongst those of the Congo
and Ogoway basins, there also survive the descendants of races belonging to an
epoch anterior to all civilisation, before Africa had yet received the alimentary
plants of Asia and the New World, and when the scattered tribes led a wUndcring
life in the forests, living only on the chase, fishing, roots, and wUd berries. These
primitive tribes, who are still distinguished from the invaders by their usages and
speech, have in Angola been mostly driven southwards to the verge of the desert
or uninhabited savannahs.

But the conquerors themselves, although connected by common descent and a
common language, represent several successive waves of invasion, each of which in
its turn changed the political equilibrium of the land. The last of these irruptions
was that of the Jagas, which occurred in the middle of the sixteenth century, "when
the Portuguese navigators had already made their appearance on the coast. The
devastating hordes of these Jagas swept like a torrent over the land, destroying
kingdoms and displacing whole communities. They are generally supposed to
have been closely related to the Zulus and Kafirs of the southern regions. At
present these ethnical shiftings take place more gradually, but the ultimate con-
sequences are even more far-reaching. The Kabinda Negroes, the immigrants
from Brazil, and the Portuguese half-castes, do not certainly present themselves as
enemies, but their influence is on that very account all the more readily accepted.
All these discordant elements are thus gradually merging in a common nationality,
and preparing the way for a new era of social culture.

Like those dwelling between the Congo and Shiloango rivers, the various tribes
of the northern districts belong to the Ba-Fyot family. They also take the
collective name of Congo from the river whose banks they occupy. These Ba-
Fyots were the founders of the ancient kingdom of the Congo, which became
famous through its alliance with the Portuguese, and through the remarkable

INHABITANTS OF ANGOLA.

success 6f the Roman Catholic missionaries, who converted, or at least baptised,
many hundred thousand natives. The kingdom still exists, although much
weakened, most of the Ba-Fyot tribes having ceased to yield it obedience. The
Mu-Sorongos, kinsmen of those dwelling north of the Congo, the Mu-Shicongos,
the Ba-Kongos, Bambas, Muyolos, and other Fyot peoples occupying the region
south of the Lower Congo far into the Mbrish basin, render little more than a
nominal vassalage to the sovereign who resides at San Salvador, while even the
Portuguese authority is but slightly enforced in those districts. The few explorers

Fig'. 4.— Anciest Kikgdom of Congo.

Scale 1 : 10,000,000.

Injuncr of these LajrujLs tnUnJlf

LAXD OF TB£ AMJiOUS

Micocco OB ANzrco

Leauio' th^BAKE-B AKSS

ara crtuLC»tv*^i''*U

McmsoJ

BRAAIAM COKCOBEU.A

KINGDOM ^ ^ „ J

Concobella (

O F
L O A N C' O

. no Miles.

who have ventured to visit these northern populations have done so at the cost of
much risk and great hardships.

The Sonho Negroes in the peninsula formed by tBe Congo estuary and the
coast line, no longer hold any relations with their old master at San-Salvador.
The disintegration of the empire in fact began towards the close of the seven-
teenth century, by the revolt of their kilamba, or chief, the " Count of Sonho "
of the Portuguese chronicles. The complete ruin of the state was brought about
by insurrections, the rivalries of the missionaries, the seizure of the trade routes

AFRICA IV. c

SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

by the Cabindas, and especially the slave trade carried on cither by the monks
themselves or by the Portuguese and foreign dealers. The kingdom is kept
together only by the mystic power of tradition, like the " holy Roman Empire "
during the Middle Ages.

Although dwelling on the banks of the Congo, in the immediate vicinity of

Fig. 5. — Mu-SoRoxoo Woilin.

the factories visited by the whites, the native communities lying west of San-
Salvador have only to a very small extent been brought imder European
influences. The Mu-Sorongos, Mu-Shicongos, Bambas and others, have remained
pure fetishists unaffected by any ceremonies borrowed from the Roman Catholic

INHABITANTS OF ANGOLA.

practices. They never omit, however, to supply their dead with boots or shoes
in the Eui-opean fashion, doubtless to lighten their toilsome journey to the
unknown world beyond the grave. The Mu-Shicongos, who claim to have
sprung from the trees, have scarcely any domestic idols in their huts, but nearly
all natural objects are for them " fetishes," and every unexplaiued phenomenon
seems t» them an awe-inspiring prodigy, or the work of some potent magician.
The world of spirits rules all mundane affairs. Women who have long remained
' childless, or who have lost a firstHng, make solemn vows to devote their new-born
offspring to the service of the fetishes, and from their early childhood these future
priests learn from the great fetishists the occult arts, such as how to beat the magic
drum, to utter the spells and incantations, to make the proper gestures and contor-
tions required for conjuring the spirits, or causing and dispelling bodily ailments.

Amongst the Bambas, the rite of circumcision is attended by a long period
of trials for initiation into the state of manhood. During this period the young
men, formed into temporary republics in the recesses of the forest, dwell entirely
apart from the rest of the tribe, absorbed in the study of the magic virtues of
the herbs, trees, and animals, and in concocting the various "medicines," which
they are required to carefuU}' preserve during their whole life as a protection
against all misfortunes. They cannot return to the world imtil properly
furnished with all these powerful charms. The king of the Bambas, whose
ancestors were invested with the office of commander-in-chief by the emperor
of Congo, is said to be now the keeper of the great fetish who dwells in a sacred
grove inaccessible to all strangers. This mysterious being remains invisible,
even to his worshippers themselves, and although he is supposed to be mortal, his
priests gather up his remains, and from these the god .springs ever into new life.

All the members of the tribe are said to have in the same way to pass through
a " temporary deajh," and it is reported that when the priest shakes his
calabash, full of all sorts of charms, the joimg men are thrown into a cataleptic
sleep, falling like dead bodies on the ground. They remain in this state for
three days, then returning to the' life which they henceforth consecrate to the
worship of the fetish by whom they have been resuscitated. Some, however,
wake up in a drowsy state, only gradually recovering the memory of their
previous existence. But, whatever be the practices of the Bamba magicians, it
seems probable that they really possess this power of throwing the young men
into a comatose state outwardly resembling death. Those who have not passed
through this ceremony of the new birth are universally despised and forbidden to
join in the tribal dances.

In the midst of the Mu-Shicongos are scattered seme Ma-Vximbu commu-
nities, resembling in every respect the other Ma-Vumbus who are met north
of the Congo, and who are equally distinguished by their Semitic features.
According to the local traditions, the southern Ma-Yumbus, who are all
members of influential families, have been settled in this region from time
immemorial.

20 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

The Bundas.

South of the tribes constituting the Congo group, and as far as the province
of Mossamedes, stretches the linguistic domain of the Bundas (Bundo, Bonde),
called also " Angola " like the whole land itself. According to one rather far-
fetched etymology, the term Bunda is explained to mean " Stiikers," oi " Con-
querors," recalling in fact the successive invasions of the race and its victories
over the aboriginal popidations. But the name seems rather to denote " family,"
" descent," thus implying a consciousness of their common kinship on the part
of those speaking the Uncjua geral or " general language " of Angola. This
Bunda speech is one of the most widely diffused in Africa, and one of those
which have been longest known to students, without however having yet been
thoroughly studied. Towards the end of the seventeenth century an Angolan
grammar was published in Lisbon, and devotional works had already been com-
posed in this language. For over two centuries Europeans have been familiar
with Am-Bunda (Hem-Bimda- or Kin-Bunda), whose domain, according to
Monteiro, begins immediately below the river Dande, and stretches thence far
beyond the frontiers of Angola proper. If not spoken, it is at least understood
by numerous tribes of the interior, who maintain uninterrupted commercial
relations with Bimda caravan people. Thus it was not as " Strikers," but as
traders, that the inhabitants of Angola propagated the use of their "lingua
franca," from the Atlantic seaboard as far as the Congo, Ku-Bango, and Zanibese
basins. In the Portuguese possessions it is spoken in two dialects, distinct
enough to have been classed as separate languages. These are the Angolan, or
Bunda, properly so called, which is current north of the Cuanza, and the southern
Bunda, which prevails throughout the whole region comprised between Benguclla
and the Bihe territory. Portuguese terms have penetrated into both varieties,
and in fact into all the inland dialects as far as and beyond the Kassai.

The Bundas (A-Bundo, Bin-Bundo) are thus divided into two main divisions,
a northern and a southern. But the latter, so far from forming compact national
groups, are in their turn subdivided into a large number of tribes, which have
reached very difEei'ent degrees of civilisation. Some, who have been brought within
the influence of Europeans either on the seaboard or on the plantations of the
interior, are comparatively cultured, while others dwelling on the plateaux, or in
the more remote upland \'illages, have remained in the savage state. Of all
the Bundas, the Ba-Nano or "Highlanders," so named in contradistinction to
the Ba-Bwero or " Lowlanders," have best preserved the racial purity and the
primitive usages. The *erm Ba-Nano (Nanno) is, however, extended by some
writers in a collective sense to the whole nation.

Referring to the traditions of the Bundas who occupy the hilly region lying
south of the Cuanza, Magyar states that these tribes came from the north-east
about the middle of the sixteenth century. Their ancestors, who were fierce
cannibals, were constantly waging war against all the surrounding tribes in order
to procure human prey, and when they had no longer any enemies to fall upon

THE BUNDAS. 21

they began to exterminate each other. The whole race was threatened with
extinction by these everlasting butcheries when, according to the legend, there
was constituted the secret society of empacasseiros, or " builalo hunters," who
pledged themselves no longer to eat any flesh except that of wild beasts of
the forest. The members of this association were distinguished by a buffalo
tail tied round their head, and rings formed by the entrails of the same animal
coiled round their arms and legs. In course of time the confederates became
powerful enough openly to revolt against the cannibal conservatives of the old
usages. But, being compelled to quit the country, they crossed the Upper
Cuarga in the direction of the west, and settled in the territory of the
Bailundos and neighbouring districts, where they gradually learnt the art of
husbandry and became steadfast alKes of the Portuguese. Even during their
first " black wars," the early white settlers were aided by bands of these buffalo
hunters at times numbering as many as thirty thousand warriors, armed with
bows and arrows. On the other hand, the section of the Bunda nation which
had remained in the country east of the Cuanza, after the emigration of the
empacasseiros, became too weak to maintain their superiority over the surrounding
peoples, by whom they appear to have become gradually absorbed. But although
still savages, they no doubt lost much of their former ferocity.

But whatever value is to be attached to these traditiotis, in which history and
legend are largely intermingled, there can be no doubt that himian sacrifices and
cannibalistic practices survived in their religious ceremonies at least down to the
middle of the present century. According to Ladislas Magyar, who was himself
the son-in-law of the king of Bihe, and as such a prominent personage in the
dominant tribe of the Bundas, the body of the chief had to be sprinkled with the
blood of slaves. Nor could his successor be enthroned until a slave-hunting
expedition had been organised, in which the candidate for the chieftaincy was
required to capturfe members of every trade practised in the country. This was
done in the belief that the various arts and industries could not possibly flourish
imder the new administration unless all were represented by special victims at the
inaugural ceremonies. Young girls and even pregnant women were thus immolated
to secure fecimdity during the ensuing reign, while the unborn babes were used
in the concoction of elixirs destined to prolong human life. At every fresh
succession some renowned warrior was also singled out, in order that the king
might acquire courage by eating his heart. But in order to have the desired effect
this hero had to be stricken down in the fullness of his strength and \-igour ; hence
he was suddenly cut down while joining in the war-dance. Strangers also accident-
ally crossing the path of funeral processions were immediately dragged along and
sacrificed on the grave. Established usage even authorised promiscuous slaughter
for a period of seven days between the death of the king and the accession of his
successor, a custom of which the so-called " sons of the elephant," that i.s, the
regular troops of the standing army, took advantage to plunder and massacre with
impunity. In ordinarj- times animals alone were sacrificed, the warrior offering to
the fetishmen either a black goat or a black heifer, the bridegroom a white ox.

22 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

The Bundas, and especially the Nanos or Highlanders, are generally tine men
with proud bearing and frank expression. Amongst thoin persons are often
found with blue eyes, a trait which is not at all appreciated by the natives. In
most of the tribes the women are tattooed with designs representing flowers and
arabesques. They go bare-headed, whereas the men fold a sort of turban round
their hair, or else part it into a multitude of ringlets decked with little clay balls
in imitation of coral. Like those of most other African tribes, the Bunda solas,
or chiefs, add to their usual dress the skin of a panther or of some other rapacious
beast, this spoil of the chase being regarded as an emblem of the terror by which
royalty should ever be surrounded. -n

Some of the tribes practise circumcision, a rite xinknown in others, or reserved
for the chiefs alone, who submit to the operation before assimiing the panther's
skin. The Bundas are for the most part highly intelligent, under the direction
of Europeans rapidly acquiring a knowledge of letters, writing, and music. In a
few months they learn to speak Portuguese correctly, and also make excellent
artisans. Each community has its blacksmith and armourer, its carpenter,
weaver, potter, all of whom assist at the public gatherings, according to a well
established order of precedence. But the Bundas distinguish themselves above
all as traders. All the business affairs of the Portuguese with the interior are
transacted by them, and they not unfrequently excel their teachers in com-
mercial ability. The Bundas of the inland plateaux, whom Livingstone speaks of
iinder the collective name of Mambari, accompany the traders' caravans far into
the interior of the continent. Owing to their long joiirneys through the bush
country, they are also commonly known as Porabeiros, from the native word
pombe, answering to our scrub or brushwood. Some of these caravans at one time
comprised as manj^ as three thousand persons, and were occasionally transformed
to bands of armed marauders. Many of these inland Bundas were in the habit of
sending their children to the coast towns for the purpose of receiving a European
education.

The Bunda territory is divided into a number of chieftaincies, some of which
comprise a considerable population ; but each village constitutes an independent
community in the enjojTnent of self-government in all matters of purely local
interest. The citizens, however, do not take part in the deliberations on a
footing of equality, for there are numerous privileged classes, some bj' hereditary
right, others through the roj'al favour, while over one-half of the whole popula-
tion are enslaved. The slave element is supplied by captives in war, by distress
compelling freemen to sell themselves and families, and by debts which are often
paid by the loss of libertj'. The expenses of funeral banquets have even at times
been liquidated by selling the very children of the deceased. On the other hand,
nearly all the slaves marry free women, in order thus to lighten the burden of
servitude and to ensure the emancipation of their children, who always take the
social position of their mothers. When a slave becomes in this way related to a
chief, his life is considered as of equal value to that of a free man. His body, like
that of other Bundas, is cousxdted by the wizards, in order to ascertain whether

THE BUNDAS. 28

the deatA has not been caused by the magic arts of some malevolent medicine-

Fig. 6. — Inhabitants of Axgola.

Scale 1 : 10,000,000.

East or.Greenwich

Depths.

Oto],noo
Fathoms.

1,000 to 1,500
Fathoms.

1,500 to 2.C0O
Fathoms.

2,000 Fathoms and
upwards.

. 240 lUle*.

man ; for the vmavenged spirits of the dead fail not to return to the earth, and
torment the living until justice is done them.

24 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

The Gangtjellas and Libollos.

Beyond the Upper Cuanza, the peoples dwelling south-east of the Bundas,
Huambas, and Qmmbandes — confederate tribes of blacksmiths and wax-hunters,
scattered amid the depressions of the plateau — are collectively known as Gan-
guellas, a term which appears to have been suggested by the contempt in which
these aborigines are held. The word is said to mean "silly "or "senseless people,"
and in proof of their stupidity, it was till recently said of them that they looked
on brandy as a poison, and consequently massacred the first importers of the
pernicious liquor. Under the general designation of Gangucllas are now com-
prised numerous tribes, whose idioms are connected towards the east with those
of the Lobales, and westward with those of the Nanos. Kotwithstanding the
great difference in their social condition, all these peoples seem to have a common
origin ; nor does their reputation for savagery prevent the Ganguellas from being
highly intelligent and enterprising traders. According to Bastian, amongst them
are to be sought the descendants of the terrible Jagas, who formerly overran the
empire of Congo, and who have been affiliated by other writers to the Fulahs,
the Zulu- Kafirs, and even the Ilamitic Gallas.

The Songo people, who occupy the waterparting between the Cuanza and the
Kwango to the east of Malange, have been brought more under Portuguese
influence than the Ganguellas ; yet there are few African lands where trial by
the ordeal of the poisoned cup is more common than in their territory. It is
employed even in the most frivolous cases, the litigants being, however, then
replaced by a number of children, or of dogs, who represent the opposite sides.
An attenuated decoction, which causes little danger to life, is administered all
round, and the first to reject the potion secures the triumph of their party.

The tribes dwelling along the left bank of the Lower Cuanza diverge more
from the ordinary Bunda type, and the Bantu dialects spoken by them differ
greatly from the current speech of Angola. To this group belong the Libollos,
whose territory is limited eastwards by the little river Cango, who bear the
reputation of being a mild, peace-loving, and industrious agricultural people.
The Libollos are the hereditary foes of their western neighbours, the Quissamas
(Kissama), who occupy the peninsular district bounded east and north by the
great bend of the Lower Cuanza, west and south-west by the coast. Ilitherto
the Quissamas have preserved their complete independence, although it would
have been easy to reduce their territory, almost entirely encircled as it is by the
Portuguese possessions. During a famine, by which the land was wasted, some
Bunda traders took advantage of the general distress to barter provisions for a
large number of half-famished families. But the next year the Quissamas
avenged themselves bj- captiu'ing several of the Bunda merchants, whom they
put to the torture, burning them with red-hot irons in pimishnieut of the
indignity offered to the nation. Owing to this occurrence the Bundas would
now willingly offer their services to the Portuguese Government for the conquest
of the Quissama territory.

THE SOUTH ANGOLAN TEIBES.

Mean'time the Quissamas, a small black race of uncleanly habits, hold them-
selves aloof from all the other natives, although still compelled at times to cross
the Cuanza in order to find a market for their products amongst the Portuguese
settlers. One of the most precious commodities, exported by them are blocks of
salt about ten inches long, which are forwarded to the interior and used as
currency throughout a great part of the continent. Dealers armed with fetishes,
which serve also as safe-conducts, introduce in return into their villages articles
of European manufacture, such as glass beads used as ornaments by the women.
The hair, encircled by a coronet of vegetable fibre in the form of a nimbus, is
decked with false pearls alternating with narrow strips of bark. They also wear
a robe prepared from the bast of the baobab, which ladies of rank cover behind
with an antelope skin embellished with pendant shell ornaments jingling at every
step. Their approach is thus heralded from a distance by the tinkling noise of
the cowries attached to their costxune. The Quissamas are altogether a very
courteous and ceremonious people.

The South Angolan Tribes.

South of the LiboUos and Quissamas dwell the Amboellas, a Bantu nation
bearing the same name as the numerous tribes of like origin settled more to the
south-east on the banks of the Ku-Bango and Upper Zambese. The Seli, or Mu-
Seli, a coast tribe near Novo-Redondo, were till recently stiU cannibals, who at their
religious ceremonies slaughtered a fetish victim whose head and heart were pre-
sented to the king. Farther south the Mu-Ndombe savages, first reduced in
the year 1847, are a nomad pastoral people of independent but unaggressive
character. The}' are clothed in skins, and smear their bodies with oil or rancid
butter blackened with powdered charcoal. Of all the Angolan peoples they alone
wear sandals made tf ox-hide. The cubafas, or huts, of the villages, scarcely high
enough for headroom, resemble haycocks, and are of perfectly spherical form.
They are furnished with bedsteads, which are mere heaps of clay levelled on top
and lubricated with butter.

When the young Mu-Ndombe gets married a banana garden is planted, and
if there is no prospect of offspring when the fruit ripens, the wife has the right
to claim a divorce. As a rule, the Mu-Ndombes eat nothing but game, abstaining
from touching their cattle except at the death of a chief, on which "festive
occasion. " several hundred heads of oxen are sometimes consumed. At these
Gargantuan feasts, which last for ten and even fifteen days, the whole animal is
devoured — the half- raw flesh, the blood, entrails, skin broiled over the fire, everj'-
thing except the bones and horns.

■ Between Benguella and Mossamedes the whole coast region is occupied by the
Ba-Kwandos and the Ba-Kwisses, ethnical groups which are usually regarded as
belonging to a primitive race in process of extinction. They are a small race
with a yellowish black complexion, prominent cheek-bones, flat nose, pouting
lips, projecting jaws, large paunch, and weak extremities. They are shunned as

26 SOUTH AND EAST APEICA.

dangerous savages, although really a timid people, living in the caves and fissures
of the mountains, and retreating step by stop before the advance of the Europeans
and of the other Negro populations. In their eyes the European is almost a divine
being, whom they would not dai-e to resist. Hence, they are ever on their guard
against strangers, and creep stealthily down to the coast, where they venture
amongst the breakers in quest of fish, and of the flotsam and jetsam of all
kinds cast ashore by the waves. This is their only food, for they have no arms or
missiles with which to pursue the game in their forests. Amongst them the social
state has not developed beyond the family circle, each little group of closely
related kinsfolk keeping together and wandering about under the guidance of the
elder or patriarch.

Other fugitive peoples, such as the Ba-Kidabes (Cabae), and the Ba-Koroka,
probably of mixed origin, roam the western slopes of the hills, being also utterly
powerless to offer the least resistance to the European or native invaders. On
the opposite side of the mountains dwell the Ba-Kankalas, a dwarfish tribe with
large paunch and yellowish complexion, who woiild seem, like the Ba-Kwandos
and Ba-Kwisses, also to represent the Bushman stock amongst the surrounding
Bantu peoples. The descendants of these aborigines have held their ground most
successfidly in the southern districts of Angola, where they are still concentrated
in the largest numbers. But here also the ever-advancing Bantu popidations
have acquired possession of the land, and the Bunda language has already become
the prevalent form of speech. On the right or Portuguese side of the Cuncne,
the chief nation are the Ba-Simbas (Ba-Ximba, Ba-Shimba), the Cimbebas of
Duparquet and other ethnologists.

The upper basin of the Cacidovar, chief affluent of the Cunene, belongs to the
various tribes of the Ba-Nhaneka familj', while the banks of the main stream
itself are here occupied by the Ba-Nkombis. According to Nogueira, these two
nations jointly comprise a population of over a hundred and forty thousand souls,
all of Bunda speech and evidently of the same race as the northern Bundas. The
local traditions attest that they formerly dwelt in the region about the head-
waters of the Cuanza, whence they were expelled by the Ba-Nanos. Their
customs, especially of the Ba-Nkombis, in some respects resemble those of the
Arabs. Thus they shave the head, leaving only a tuft of hair on the crown, and
respectfully remove their shoes before entering a friend's house. The houses
themselves resemble the dwars of the Mauritanian Beduins, and the commune is
governed in the same way. Most of these tribes are independent, and even those
paying a small tribute to some suzerain chief enjoy complete local self-govern-
ment. Not even the hamba, or chief, literally the " more than man," can assert
his will in all things, for he is surrounded by councillors, with whom all weighty
matters have to be discussed, and whose views he has frequently to accept.
When a hunter strikes down an elephant he presents the hamba with one of
the tusks, but no other taxes are levied, except perhaps the fees exacted from
suitors who come to plead before the tribunal of the "father." Although servi-
tude exists, care is taken not to apply the name of slave to those in bondage, who

THE SOUTH ANGOLAN TEIBES.

are comihonly designated as " sons," or " cousins." Nor are these altogether
empty titles, for on the death of the legitimate heir — that is, the sister's son or
uterine brother — the oldest slave succeeds to the estate, to the exclusion of the
children themselves, or of the wives, who never inherit.

When questioned by the European missionaries, both Ba-Nhanekas and Ba-
Nkombis sjDeak of a supreme god, and relate of the departed that " God has taken
them unto himself." But to this deity they render no worship, whom in fact
they confound with the sun. As pastors and husbandmen, their homage is chiefly
reserved for animals — the ox that faithfully accompanies them from pasturage to
pastur'ige, or even the snake that glides about their dwellings. Every Mu-
Nhaneka has his favourite ox, and after death his remains, reduced by a peculiar
culinary process to a sort of paste, are placed for burial in the hide of this animal.
The great national feast, answering to our harvest home, is symbolised by a
spotless white or black bull, who is led in the procession by the mucne-hamho, or
"chief pastor," and followed by a cow called the " mistress of the house." After
the harvest the whole tribe, in company with the sacred oxen, goes in procession
to the chief's residence, in order to consult the auguries and make preparations
for the work of the new year. During the festival rejoicing must be imiversal,
so that the very dead must cease to be mourned. Even the few crimes that may
happen to be committed at this period of mutual good-will are overlooked, all
inquirj' for the delinquents being forbidden.

Amongst these tribes of the Cuucne basin all the youths are circumcised, this
being the essential condition on which they are received as taba, that is to say,
" equals." The Ba-Suto, or uncircumcised, are held in universal scorn and contempt ;
and this, like all other painful operations, has to be endured without flinching.
M. Nogueira, who resided eleven years amongst the natives of the Cunene valley,
speaks with admiration of their dignified demeanour and of their ciiric virtues.
Apart from the crJtnes which, as in all other countries, are inseparable from
dynastic conflicts, no attacks are ever made against life or property, although all
citizens go armed, and enjoy complete exemption from police control. Such
depravity, contentions, outrages, and misery as prevail have been introduced
entirely by the Portuguese. As in most other lands where Europeans have
entered into direct relations with the natives, their influence is always baneful at
first. Instead of improving, they begin by corrupting or even decimating the
aborigines, and end at times by exterminating them. Before the conflicting
elements can be reconciled, and all participate in the general progress, a period
of strife intervenes, during which the weak too often succumb to the strong.

The Pretos and Europeans.

The civilised blacks of Angola are uniformly designated by the name of
Pretos, while to those still keeping aloof from Portuguese influence is applied the
sjTionymous expression Negros, often uttered in a contemptuous way. The Pretos
are concentrated chiefly in the seaports and surrounding districts, where they are

28 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

brought into direct contact with the Europeans and the immigrant t'abindas,
who no less than the whites must be regarded as the true civilisers of the
inhabitants of Angola. Amongst the Pretos must also be included the Bunda
communities of the Lower Cuanza, the Ambaquistas, or people of the Ambaca
district in the Lu-Calla basin, and lastly the Bihenos, that is the natives of the
Bihe plateau, which forms the divide between the waters flowing to the Cuanza,
the Cunene, the Ku-Bango, and the Ku-Ndo basins. Amongst these more or less
cultured Negroes it is by no means rare to meet well-informed persons, and from
this element are derived most of those employed in the international traffic, as
well as some of the colonial officials. Many even possess, or at least acbn'nister,
extensive plantations.

The Pretos, however, are essentially a mixed people, presenting every shade
of complexion from an almost pure black to a hue light enough to class them as
whites. Nevertheless, many of the practices prevailing amongst those dwelling
in and about the towns still recall their primitive savagery. Mention is made by
Ladislas Magyar of the vaktmga, one of these barbarous customs still surviving
down to the middle of the present century amongst the Mu-Ndombes settled in
the neighbourhood of Benguella, who, at the same time, hold themselves as quite
distinct from and superior to the savage Mu-Ndombes of the interior. In
accordance with this vakunga, or " sale by auction," young girls whose parents
are not rich enough to defray the expenses of the sumptuous " wedding break-
fast," are put up to the highest bidder, and in this way both contracting parties
escape the reproach of a marriage performed without the customary festivities.

The practice is still universally observed amongst the Quissamas as well as the
inland Mu-Ndombes. In the villages of the interior the bride joins in the wedding
procession plastered all over with a white clay, emblem of future happiness.

In Angola the white element is represented only by a relatively small number
of persons. Not more than about four thousand of the ' inhabitants are of
European origin, and even of these nearly all have come with the intention
of one day returning to the mother country. The Portuguese and other whites
settled in Angola are either traders and artisans who hope to make rapid fortunes,
or else Government officials and soldiers, whose service in this remote colony
entitles them to a double rate of promotion. Hence, it is not surprising that the
territories comprised between " coast and coast," that is between the Congo and
Zambese estuaries, remained till recent years an almost unknown region. Although
indicated on the Portuguese maps as forming a single Lusitanian domain, they
have been traversed from ocean to ocean by a very small number of explorers.

Europeans are rarely met who can be regarded as true immigrants, that have
come with the intention of forming permanent homes on African soil. The
reason is because for the Portuguese themselves all attempts at acclimatisation
within the tropical zone are attended by risk. Doubtless, many cases may be
mentioned of whites who have passed half of a long existence in the trading
places along the coast, or on the plantations of the interior ; but even these
seldom display the same energy and enterprise as their fellow-countrymen in

THE PEETOS AND EUEOPEANS.

Europe. To preserve their health it is indispensable to abstain from manual
labour in the sun, and all are obliged to move about in the tipoga, a kind of
palanquin suspended from elastic palm-stems resting on the shoulders of two
native porters. Speaking generally, it may be said that it is quite the exception

Fig. 7. — ROTJTES OF EXPLOEEES WHO HAD CE0S3ED THE CoNTnjE>fT BEFORE 1886.

Scale 1 : 36,000,000.

iSOP

East ofG'-ecnwich

Land Routes.

0 to 1,000

Fathoms.

Depths.

1,000 to 2,500
Fathoms.

2,500 Fathoms Water Routes,
and upwards.

, 600 Miles.

for whites, especially from the north of Europe, to succeed in adapting themselves
to the climatic conditions of Portuguese Mrica. North of Mossamedes the race
never becomes acclimatised ; all the settlements hitherto effected have perished
miserably, and families can be kept alive only on the condition of returning to
their native land. But the emigrants from Portugal or Madeira who have formed

30 SOUTH AND EAST APEICA.

settlements in the Mossamedes district, wliich alreadj- lies 1,000 miles south of
the equator, here enjoy a relatively cool atmosphere, which is, at the same time,
far less humid than that either of Loanda or of BengueUa. Hence, instances of
successful acclimatisation are here frequent enough, not only in the case of
individuals but of family groups. Many natives of Portugal have reared a
healthy offspring, with rosy cheeks and vigorous constitution. The race has here
been perpetuated, although hitherto the mortality has normally exceeded the
birth-rate ; and if few young girls are seen in Mossamedes, it is because they also
emigrate, called awaj' to found new homes in the other coast towns.

The climate, which "eliminates" in the north, may thus be said to '"Stssimi-
late " in the southern province of Angola ; and if white families can here
maintain themselves on the seaboard, they naturally find still less difficulty in
doing so on the breezy upland valleys of the interior. An irregular line
embracing the whole of the Cunene basin as far as the plateau sejjarating it from
the slopes draining to the Cuanza and Kwango rivers, roughly indicates the
portion of the Portuguese possessions which has already become to a small extent
a region of permanent colonisation. North of this parting line the territory can
never become a colony in the strict sense of the term, and must always remain a
mere political dependencj' useful only for its natural resources.

The Portuguese are not the only whites who have begun to seek new homes
in the southern parts of Angola. The immigration from the north has in recent
times been increased by a corresponding movement from the south of Africa.
The Boers, descendants of the early Dutch settlers and of a few French Huguenot
refugees, have continued as far as Angola the gradual northward advance begun
by them some two centuries ago on the extreme southern shores of the continent.
Steadily pushing forward from station to station, their farthest outposts have
already reached the plateaux watered by the Upper Cunene. Notwithstanding
the difficulties attending a first settlement, and despite the conflicts which have
temporarily arrested and even driven back the onward movement, there can be
no doubt that the Boers \vill ultimatelj- secure. i permanent footing in the Portu-
guese territory, and thus contribute to the settlement and progress of the country.

Nor is this all, for in the general spread of European ideas, customs, and
industries, account must also be taken of the Brazilian immigrants from the New
World, who are partly Portuguese by descent, and altogether by language and
social institutions. Most of them are certainly of mixed origin, and while they
may claim to be Europeans on the father's side, as well as by name and family
traditions, they must also be regarded as Afiicans in virtue of their maternal
descent. These civilised half-castes thus constitute a natural intermediate element
between the pure whites and the Negroes, between the colonists and the natives.
Some share in the general civilisation of the country is also taken by the hybrid
Hindus from Goa, chiefly priests, traders, and teachers, who are commonly known
as " Canarians," because mainly immigrants from the district of Canara, on the
west coast of India.

The economic and social conditions of Angola have been completely revolu-

THE SLAVE TEADE.

tionised during the last few years. For the three centuries following the
occupation of the land, the factories along the coast between the Congo and
Cunene rivers traded exclusively in slaves. These stations were mere depots
for the wretched captives destined for the Brazilian plantations, and mostly
purchased in the interior by the traders of Sam Thome, descendants of the Jews
banishedjto that island towards the end of the fifteenth century. The African
coastlands having thus been depopulated for the benefit of the Xew "World, it is
not surprising that Angola has been so greatly distanced in material progress by
the vast Brazilian empire. The number of blacks transported from Angola since
the beginning of the sixteenth century has been estimated at about one million
at least ; and to procure this multitude of slaves, the dealers in human flesh
probably caused the destruction of three or four times as many in the slave-
hunting expeditions and the terrible forced marches to the coast. No doubt
the black cargoes received the apostolic benediction when setting sail, and at
the time of Bastian's visit the stone seat was still shown at Loanda from which
the bishop stretched forth his hands towards the parting hulks in order to bestow
his episcopal blessing on their living freights. But it may be doubted whether
the horrors of the middle passage were perceptibly abated for all this unctuous
mxmunery. When, however, the traffic was checked, and at last abolished alto-
gether, about the middle of the present century, the broad Angolan uplands had
ceased to be a hunting-ground for human quarry. But although the land now
began to be slowly repeopled, the old trade in slaves was still continued from
plantation to plantation, just as it flourishes at the present time throughout the
Banta territories of the interior beyond the Kwango river. The whole system of
cultivation, as well as the colonial administration in general, depended on the
forced labour of the serfs employed on the large domains ceded by the state to
enterprising speculators.

At last slavery w*as completely abolished in 1878 throughout the Portuguese
posses.sions, where no native is any longer compelled to till a square yard of land
which he cannot call his own. But ihe tenure of the land itself has not \mder-
gone a corresponding change. Small freeholds, which tend so greatlj' to foster
the self-respect and promote the well-being of the peasant, have not been substi-
tuted for the extensive ^mains on which is based the ascendancy of a powerful
landed aristocracy. Nevertheless such a radical change as the emancipation of
the Negro cannot fail eventually to bring about a corresponding revolution in
the prevalent system of manual labour. So also the ever-increasing importance
of Angola, in the social economy of the African world, must necessarily ere long
entitle this region to a larger share of local self-government, and to a funda-
mental modification of the present system of complete dependence on the crown
authorities resident in Lisbon.

Topography,

Although recognised by solemn international treaties as sole masters of the
left bank of the Lower Congo, from Noki to Cape Padrao, the Portuguese possess

32 SOUTH AND E.VST AFRICA.

no busy trading stations along this extensive section of the river. I'fearly all
vessels putting in to discharge or ship cargoes in the estuary stop either at
Banana, Punta da Lenha, or Boma, all of which ports lie on the right bank, and
consequently belong to the Congo Free State. The Portuguese side is thus almost
deserted, and the water being shallower, is here less favourable for navigation,
while the riverain populations are more hostile to foreigners. The station of
Santo-Antonio, although sheltered from the west winds by the promontory of
Cape Padrao, is merely a military outpost without any local traffic. Qumama,
whose exuberant vegetation is a source of wonder to the traders of Boma, possesses
three factories and some plantations, the produce of which is forwarded bj' a few
light craft.

The most frequented of all the riverain ports in Portuguese territory is
Koki (N'oqui), the Lukango of the natives, which is situated near the frontier,
just below the cataracts. This haven, which is accessible to vessels of one
thousand five hundred tons, has acquired some importance since the ivory trade
has been transferred to the banks of the Congo, from the port of Ambriz on the
seacoast. Noki is also the starting-point of travellers proceeding south-eastwards
to San-Salvador, capital of the ancient kingdom of Congo, now tributary to the
" King of the sea " residing in Lisbon.

San-Salvador.

Ambassi, the native city known to the Portuguese by the name of San-
Salvador, occupies a commanding position worthy of an imperial capital which
at one time ruled over all the land from the Gaboon to the Cuanza. It crowns
the summit of a plateau of elliptical form, which stretches north and south for
a distance of nearly two miles, with an average breadth of over half a mile.
Towards the south, the valley of the Lueji, winding its w^y through a papyrus
and grass-grown marshy tract, describes a semicircle round the escarpments of
the plateau. On the east and west sides the jjarrow gorges, nearly 400 feet below
the upper terraces, are traversed by rivulets, over which have been thrown suspen-
sion bridges of twisted creepers. Copious springs of pure water gush from the
sides of the granite rock, which forms the base of this isolated plateau, and which
is enclosed on all sides by old Kmestone formations.

The " great fetish " of San-Salvador, formerly renowned throughout all the
Angolan lands, has long lost its prestige, and the religious rites introduced by the
Roman Catholic missionaries — Portuguese Dominicans and Italian Capuchin friars
— had until recently been completelj' forgotten. Little survived of those times
except a few inherited crucifixes, regarded by the chiefs as badges of authority,
and the standard of the cross blessed by Pope Innocent VIII., and still jealously
guarded by the king as an aegis of his faded majesty. In the capital were also
still preserved some images of saints, which were carried in procession with great
pomp on certain festivals, accompanied by genuflexions and praj^ers, in which
nothing but the merest traces coxdd be detected of the ancient liturgy. Negro

SAN-SALVADOE,

priests ordained at Loanda had from time to time visited the " congregations " at
San-Salvador, in order to keep up a semblance of union between these communi-
ties and the rest of the Church. The names of those missionaries were inscribed
on the trunk of a sacred tree standing in the centre of the town. But for some
years a regular mission has again attached San-Salvador with the Catholic world.
Baptist ^preachers are also endeavouring, although with no great success, to make
proselytes, especially among the slave children purchased from the surrounding
tribes.

Under the influence of all these strangers some of the old superstitious

Fig. 8. — San-Salvadob.

Scale I : 250,000.

M-%o-

C a sfc of Gree^wicH

. 6 lUles.

practices have disappeared, notably the ordeal of the poisoned cup ; but polygamy
stiU prevails, especially amongst the chiefs and rulers. The order of succes-
sion, which the missionaries had formerly endeavoured ^to make conformable to
the Roman law, is not in the direct but the indirect line, from imcle to nephew,
as amongst most African tribes. During the interregnum the executive authority
is vested in a formidable dignitary bearing the title of Ma-Boma, or " Lord of
Terror." The death of a king is accordingly regarded in a twofold sense as a
national calamity. It is followed by a period of solemn mourning, during which
all merr^Tuaking, the dance and the song, are hushed in an all-pervading stillness.

AFRICA IV. d

SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

The natives remain confined to their huts, abstain from ablutions and almost from
food, and even cease to till the land. For several months the body is preserved
in a house facing the palace, adorned with a symbolic effigy of the sovereign, to
which arc religiously offered the usual daily meals. After the limbs have been

Fig. 9. — The Kixo op Co:foo.

first broken and then dried, the remains are covered with a coating of clay and
wrapped in strips of cotton and a silk shroud. Evcrybodj' contributes his share,
until at last the swathed mummj'-pack fills the whole ■width of the mortuary
dwelling. ^Vhen the remains are ultimately borne to the consecrated place of
burial, the funeral procession must be made in a straight line, so that all the

MUSSERA.

intervening houses 'have to be cloared away. Amongst the Mu-Sorongos the king
was not officially interred for twelve years after his death, as if his subjects were
still reluctant to believe that he had passed away.

Since its return to the sphere of European culture, San-Salvador has already
been visited by a large number of travellers. Dom Pedro V., King of Congo,
who resides in the old city, has, like his forefathers, again become a vassal to the
crown of Portugal. French, Portuguese, and Dutch factories have sprimg up in
the vicinity of the royal court, and missionaries, held almost in as great respect
as the king himself, have made the capital a centre of religious activity for again
gatherig the surrounding populations into the Catholic fold. According to
Chavanne, they were able to boast of two thousand converts in 1885. Never-
theless the metropolis is not very populous, containing in that year not more than
about seven hundred residents, including nine Europeans. But several hundred
visitors were temporarily attached to the place by the interests of trade, and porters
and packmen were continually plodding to and fro on all the surrounding highways.

In the San-Salvador district, the Lembelo market, at the converging point of
several routes, is the chief mart for caoutchouc within the zone of free trade south
of the Congo. Here the brokers and middlemen meet once or twice a month to
discuss business matters and exchange their commodities. A large open space
shaded v{ith trees in the centre of the market was formerly a place of execution,
as the traveller is reminded by the blanched skulls still suspended from the
overhanging branches. ■ Whenever a wretched culprit was beheaded, the members
of his familj' were said to be compelled to eat a few pieces from his hand.

South of Cape Padrao follow several factories surroimded by orchards and

plantations. Such arc Mangue Grande, Mnnguc Pequeno {Great and Little Mangne),

and Cdhc^a de Cobra ("Snake's Head"), where sesame especially is cultivated, and

where may be purchased the finest fetishes in West Africa, all carved by the

Musorongo artists.

Moculla and Amhrizctte, situated near the mouth of a river flowing from the
i . . .

territory of the Mu-Shicongo people, enjoyed till lately some importance as out-

pQsts of the ivory trade. At present Ambrizette largely exports salt from the
neighbouring saline marshes. Beyond it the "Pilar," a fine Portuguese pyramid,
and hills strewn with granite boulders weathered into fantastic forms, which at a
distance look like ramparts, towers, pillars, or obelisks, announce to the seafarer
the approach to Mussera, formerly a prosperous citj', whose powerful fetish, the
so-called " Mother of Waters," was still powerless to protect the place from the
ravages of small-pox and the sleep disease. This latter scourge did not make its
appearance in the region south of the Congo till the year 1870, when in a few
months it carried off two hundred victims in Mussera alone. The surx-ivors fled
in alarni from their homes, and founded a new town in the neighbourhood.

During the cacimbo season, that is from June to August, the Mussera fisher-
men capture large quantities of the pungo, or singing fish, which is cured and
forwarded in all directions to the inland plateaux. To reach the fishing grounds
they brave the surf seated astride on two canoes coupled together, one foot in

d 2

86 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

each. From the bituminous sandstones of the Musscra district there oozes up a
kind of asphalt, which the natives say collects in little pools, but which they do
not allow the Eui'opeans to visit.

Aiiimiz Axn Loaxda,

Amhriz, or rather Mhrkh, so-named from a neighbouring river, is the only
port of call on the whole seaboard between the Congo estuary and Loanda.
Although it has been occupied by the Portuguese since the year 18;55, the
neighbouring roadstead of Qitisscmbo, as well as the territory stretching thence
northwards, was left to the natives, so that foreign traders were able to carry on
business without being obliged to pay local dues to the Portuguese authorities.
Ambriz, whose various sciiza/ns, or quarters, are scattered over the face of a steep
clilf, has no harbour, nor any shipping accommodation beyond a pier, which
vessels may approach in calm weather. The open roadstead is sheltered only by a
low headland from the south and south-east winds ; but this part of the coast is
fortunately scarcely ever swept by storms. Ambriz was formerly visited by
numerous caravans conveying ivory from the San-Salvador region, and although
at present it exports vcrj^ little of this commodity, its general trade has greatly
increased of late years. Although lying beyond the Congo basin, it is situated
within the zone of free trade with the whole of the Angolan territory limited
southwards by the river Loje. Its staple export is coffee, which comes from the
plantations in the south-oast, attracted to this port by its exemption from local
impost. Ambriz also forwards ground-nuts, caoutchouc, and the baobab bast
used in the manufacture of paper, the yearly value of all its exports being
estimated at from £1G0,000 to £200,000. The Brazilian jigger {piilcx penetrans),
originally introduced with the cargo of the Thomas Mitchell in 1872, has since
spread from this place throughout a great part of West Africa.

Ambriz is destitute of good routes towards the region of inland plateaux, and
especially towards Quiballa, in the southern par^/ of the Mu-Shicongo territory, as
well as towards Bcmhe. The latter is a fortified town standing 2,550 feet above
sea-level on a plateau separated from a peaked mountain by a deep valley
strewn with a number of malachite boulders, which appear to have been borne
thither by the action of water. Formerly the natives sold from two himdred to
three hundred tons annually to the Ambriz dealers. More recently an English
company was ruined in the attempt to work these deposits, nearly all the miners
introduced from Cornwall perishing in a few months.

The little fort of Suo Jose, or Das Pcdras de Encoge, is the chief strategical
station of the interior, but is much dreaded by the military convicts sent
here to die of fever. It cro^vns a bluff full of caves, which overlooks the upper
Loje Valley, and guards the frontiers of the kingdom of Congo. The surrounding
forests supply a large quantity of coffee, collected from the uncultivated plant.
South-east of Ambriz the seaboard as far as the Dande river is occupied by
the Mossul territory, which abounds in gum copal. This region is still very little

LOANDA.

Fig. 10. — Ambeiz.
Scale 1 : 40,000.

known, although formerly erected by the Portuguese crown into a " Duchy " in
favour of a Negro prince, on whose shoulders were tattooed the arms of Portugal,
an indelible badge of which the bearer was not a little proud. This singular
method of investiture was conferred on a Duke of Mossul so recently as the close
of the eighteenth century. In the Dande valley, which forms the boundary lino
between the Ba-Fyot and
Bvmda populations, reservoirs
of petroleum have been disco-
vered, which, however, have
hither^ij been worked at a loss.
For several generations the
natives of the district have
been so imruly that the Euro-
pean speculators have not yet
ventured to establish factories
in their midst. The upper

Dande valley is even still held

by semi-independent Dembo

tribes.

Sao-Paulo da Assumpcao dc

Loanda,' or briefly Loanda,

capital of their Angolan pos-
sessions, was the first town

founded by the Portuguese on

this coast. As it was also the

most favourably situated for

trading purposes, it naturally

acquired a rapid development,

and is at present the largest

city on the West African

seaboard for a distance of

3,000 miles, between Lagos

and the Cape. Divided into

an upper and a lower quarter,

it spreads out in amphithe-

atrical form along the terraced

slopes, terminating southwards

in a rocky headland, on which

stands the fortress of Sao

Miguel. The somewhat open bay Is partly sheltered from the ocean winds and

surf by a strip of sand forming a continuation of a tongue of land which

begins some 20 miles farther south, at the most advanced westerly point of

the Angolan coast. This outer shore-line, which runs parallel with the inner

seaboard, has been formed by the marine current which sets steadily in the

otoie

Feet.

Depths.

16 to 32

Feet.

32 Ffet and
upwards.
1,100 yards.

SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

direction from south to north close to the mainland. Towards the middle, how-
ever, it is pierced by a channel, the so-called bar of Corimba, through whicli
light craft gain access to the bay. The northern extremity of this sandy rampart
thus forms a long, low-lying island, whose shores are often flooded by the stormy

Fig. 11.— SouTHEBX Spit of Loamia.

Sc;Je 1 : 223,0011.

Deptlifl.

Sands exposed
at ebb.

OtoB4
Feet.

64 to .320
Feet.

3 MiloB.

320 Feet and
upwards.

■waves of the Atlantic. Such is the islet of Loanda, on which the Portuguese
founded their first settlement in the year 15~G, at a time when they did not yet
venture to establish factories on the mainland. The island, on which stood seven
lihatas, or native villages, was otherwise a place of exceptional importance for its
inhabitants, constituting a sort of treasury where they collected the cowries

<
o

LOANDA.

{cyprcca 'moneta), used as currency in the surrounding districts. The Loanda
cowries were of greater value as specie than those of Brazil, imported from Bahia,
but were still far inferior to those of the Maldive Archipelago. The insular
tongue of land, shaded with cocoanut groves which supply the materials for the
manufacture of cordage and wickerwork, has a population of about five thousand,
including six hundred fishermen, descended from the ancient Mu-Shi Loanda
tribe. Here also the Government has established an arsenal for refitting its
fleets.

One year after the foundation of the insidar settlement, Paulo Dias de Novaes,

Fig. 12.— St. Paul of Loanda.

Scale 1 : 73,000.

I5"ie'.

tastof.Gpeenwicli
uTii

I5"i5-

CZJ

Sandti.

Oto le
Peet.

Depths.

16 to so
Feet.

SO to 160
Feet.

160 Feet and
upwardg.

2,200 Miles.

grandson of the navigator who first doubled the Cape of Good Hope, secured a
footing on the neighbouring coast, where by alliances with native chiefs and
successfiil wars, the Portuguese gradually acquired possession of the surrounding
territory. As a chief centre of the slave trade between Africa and Brazil, Loanda
became a wealthy and populous city, where from twelve to fifteen vessels might at
times be seen awaiting their turn to ship their living cargoes. But after the
suppression of this trafiic, itself a hindrance to the development of all legitimate
trade, Loanda was all but ruined. Its population fell off, its buildings were
forsaken, all business came to an abrupt end ; the few remaining inhabitants, cut off

40 SOUXn AND EAST AFBICA.

from supplies, ran the risk of perishing from hunger, and whole months passed
without a single Portuguese or Brazilian vessel making its appearance in the
port.

Rut although the planters predicted that the entire abolition of the slave trade
would complete the ruin of Loanda and the whole territory, their forebodings have
not been realised. The population, which numbered about twelve thousand in the
middle of the present centurj% has even increased since then ; while the city, which
for a time presented the appearance of havdng undergone a bombardment, has been
enlarged and improved. The debris of churches and convents have been cleared
away and replaced by promenades ; the narrow streets have been broadenpd, and
the houses, bxiilt for the most part of Brazilian timber, proof against the attacks of
termites, are well kept, well ventilated, supplied with verandahs, and painted in
bright yellow, pink, or light blue colours. Over aU the surroimding hills are dotted
nimierous mitsseques, or villas, nestling beneath the shade of the baobab and other
forest trees, which here thrive notwithstanding the poverty of the soil.

But Loanda still continues to be an unhealthy place, and even recently the
inhabitants were reduced to great straits for want of sufficient water, a well and
a few cisterns being wholly inadequate to meet the demand. Quite a flotilla of
talaveiras, or barges, had to be daily sent for fresh supplies to the neighbouring
river Bengo. At present the pure water of this stream is conveyed to the city by
means of a canal, which is now also largely utilised for irrigation purposes. A great
stimulus was given to the prosperity of Loanda in 1891, when the railway running
from the capital through the Zenza,'or Upper Bengo valley, into the interior, was com-
pleted as far as the station of Amhnca [Pamhn), an important centre of trade with
the surrounding Congoese populations. This line, which has a total length of 230
miles, was originally projected to traverse the continent from the Atlantic to the
Indian Ocean ; but the scheme was abandoned when the Powers refused to recognise
the claim of Portugal to the whole region between Angola and Mozambique.

More than half of the trade of Angola is centred in the port of Loanda, through
which nearly all articles of European manufacture reach the interior. In exchange
for these wares the inhabitants have little to offer beyond the produce of the local
fisheries ; but from the inland districts they receive an abundance of colonial
produce, especially coifee and caoutchouc.

The trade of Loanda is fostered by the ocean steamers which now regularly
visit the roadstead ; but the port is xmfortvmatel}' too shallow to enable them to
approach the town. Down to the beginning of the present century the largest
vessels were still able to ride at anchor within a few cable-lengths of the shore ;
but this anchorage has been gradually encroached upon by the silting sands, and
the beach has been enlai'ged at the expense of the bay, so that the naval fleet and
Transatlantic packets are now obliged to cast anchor imder the shelter of the
sand\' island nearly a mile and a halt' to the north of the city.

Before the completion of the railway which brings Loanda into direct com~
munication with the inland plantations, the best trade route was that ofi'ered by
the course of the Lower Cuanza. After rounding Cape Palmeirinhas and crossing

MUXIMA.

the bar at its mouth, the coast steamers are able to ascend this great artery as far
as the town of Dondo. One of the first riverain ports on the right bank is
Calumho, which may be regarded as the fluvial port of Loanda, which lies little
more than 20 miles to the north-west, and which is connected by a good carriage
road with the Cuanza. It has also been proposed to construct a junction canal,
as originally projected by the Dutch, who held possession of Loanda for a
few years.

Nearly all the plantations in the rich valley of the Cuanza lie on the right
bank, which is the lower and more fertile of the two. Here the vegetation

Fif,'. 13.— Dondo.
Scale 1 : 11,000.

n°i",)' E of Creenwi.l

650 Yarda.

characteristic of moist tropical lands displays itself in all its splendour and
exuberance ; but here also the fluvial inundations arc the most disastrous, often
sweeping away the bougiics, or embankments, together with the crops they were
constructed to protect. The rich domain of Bom Jesus, where hundreds of hands
are employed in distilling rum from the sugar-cane, has in this way frequently
been wasted.

The only station on the left bank of the Lower Cuanza is Mii.vima {Mmhima),
crowning the summit of a limestone hill, whence an extensive view is commanded
of the territory of the savage Quissama tribes. Above a group of hovels at the

SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

foot of the hill rises a Christian church, which is regarded as a great " fetish " by
all the inhabitants of the district, Catholics and pagans alike.

The trading station of Massangano, above the confluence of the Cuanza and Lu-
Calla, owes its existence to the neighbouring coffee plantations of the Cazengo
district. But here the chief centre of traffic is Dando, which lies at the head of
the navigation of the Cuanza. It is a modern town, situated on the right bank of
the river, in a cirque surrounded by wooded hills, which prevent the free
circulation of the air. The consequence is that the place is extremely unhealthy
and from the local Portuguese traders has received the title of the " furnace," or
" hell " of Angola. Here arc manufactured porous earthenware vessels, wnd the
native smiths employ European iron, although the neighbouring hills are very
rich in ores of that metal. In the same district were formerly worked some silver

Kg. U. — Loanda-Ambaca Railwat.

S-ale 1 : .1.000,000.

East of Greenwich

Depthfi.

Projected lines.

OtoS20
Feet.

320 Feet and
upwards.

. 60 Miles.

Adopted line.

mines, which occur a little farther up near the cataracts of the Cuanza, and not
far from the village of Camhanibe. The first attempt was made to secure possession
of these mines in the year 1595, when the two hundred men forming the
expedition were all massacred except seven, who escaped to report the disaster.

The most productive coffee district in Angola is the basin of the river Lu-
Calla, which flows parallel with the Cuanza some distance above the confluence of
both streams. The coffee-plant grows wild in the forests of this region, and in
many places rich natural plantations are formed merely by the simple process of
clearing the groimd round about the trees. But the great plantations of the
Cazengo, of Golungo-Alto, and neighbouring districts, have been created by the
Portuguese and Brazilian settlers, originally employing the labour of slaves who
have since become free labourers. The first fazendeiro who settled in the Cazengo
territory came from Brazil in 1837. Eight years after beginning operations he

AMBACA. 43

•was able to raise eight tons of coffee, and in 1897, as much as ten thousand four
hundred tons were exported from this district alone.

lu the Lu-Calla basin the cotton jjlant is also grown ; but this industry, which
promised to acquire a great development during the American war of secession, at
present yields poor returns to t'he planters. The -whole country abounds in
mineral deposits, although little is worked except the iron ores, which have been
famous from time immemorial for the excellence of the articles produced from
them by the native metallurgists. The double-blast bellows used by them are
absolutely identical with those figured on the ancient monuments of Egj-pt. In
the saifds of the Golungo-Alto torrents is also found gold dust, but hitherto in
insufficient quantity to yield any profit from the washings.

This region of the Lu-Calla, one of the most picturesque and productive in
the whole of Angola, was till recently entirely destitute of regular highways, so
that the porters had to make their way to the coast-towns through the thorny
paths of the forests. A large part of the native traffic even took the direction of
Ambriz, attracted thither by the cheap and abundant supply of commodities taken
in exchange for the local produce. Before the construction of the railway by
which this produce is now forwarded direct to Loauda, all the foreign trade of
the Lu-Calla basin was carried on by means of the steamers plying on the Cuanza.
But to reach the riverain ports, the coffee had still to be conveyed by porters
across the trackless forests. It is calculated that of the total annual trade of the
Cuanza, estimated at over fifteen thousand tons, about one-haK is contributed by
tlie Lu-Calla district. Hence, allowing a hundred pounds as an average load,
the nimiber of carriers, who yearly made the toilsome journey from the inland
plantations to the banks of the Cuanza, must be reckoned at about a hundred and
twenty-five thousand. In the year 1886, a road 34 miles long was opened between
Dando and Camllo, capital of the Cazengo district, which lies near the sources of
the Lu-Inha, a southern affluent of the Lu-CaUa. This highway, which now
largely dispenses with human " beasts of burden," crosses two branches of the
Lu-Calla by means of iron viaducts, the most remarkable work of man in the
whole of the Angolan territory.

Pamha, which has been chosen as the terminus in the Ambaca district of the
railway running from Loanda towards the interior, is situated, not on the Lu-Calla,
but five miles west of that river on a schistose and sandstone bluff, at the foot of
which winds the Eio Pamba, a small affluent of the main stream. This station,
which commonly takes the name of Ambaca, from the district itself, consisted of a
single street with three houses and a dozen straw huts in the year 1879, when
the engineers had already traced on the maps the definite course of the railway
for 90 miles between Dando and Ambaca. The inhabitants, all clothed in black,
presented a wretched funereal appearance, and the few travellers passing through
the district asked with astonishment why this hamlet of all others had been
chosen as the terminal pomt of a railway running for 230 miles from the capital
of the Portuguese possessions towards the interior of the continent. But Pamba
owes this privilege to its rank as administrative centre of the country, to the

SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

extensive ground-nut and tobacco plantations of the eurroundlng district, to its
position on the caravan route penetrating to the former kingdom of the
Muato Yamvo, and possibly also to its past prestige. Ambaca was in fact
formerlj' a populous and flourishing city, and thu chief depot and headquarters
of the dealers who from that central point explored all the circumjacent lands
in search of fresh markets. The Ambaquistas had become renowned throughout
the Portuguese dominions for their wealth and enterprising spirit. Ilcuce the
needy servants of the crown intrigued and competed eagerly for promotion to a
scarcely remunerali\e post, where they had every opportunity of rapidly making
their fortunes. Such was their success that the inhabitants migrated, csfjecially
in the direction of Puvgo-NdoiKjo, while trade sought ever fresh outlets. The

Fig. 15. — "Black Stones" of Punoo Ndongo.
Sdlel : 115,000.

, 3,300 Yards.

Ambaquistas have thus become more numerous in the conterminous provinces
than in their original home ; while the now-completed railway is already repeopling
the country and opening up its great natural resources. ^

In the upper valley of the Lu-Calla there are no large towns. Even Duque
de Braganga, or simplv Duquc, the most advanced Portuguese station towards
the north-east of the Angolan territory, is a mere presidio, or military jjost, much
dreaded on account of the neighbouring malarious swamps caused by the over-
flow of the river, which flows east of the plateau crowned by the fort. Hence,
few troops arc sent to this station except military convict.s, who avenge them-
selves by levying blackmail on the natives, \inder the disguise of Government
taxes. Afi at Pamba, the result of this system of administration has been the

PUNGO-NDONGO. 45

almost complete depopulation of the land. Although naturally very fertile and
capable of growing tobacco, cotton, and ground-nuts, as well as European fruits
and vegetables, thanks to its altitude of nearly 3,500 feet above the sea, the
district yields scarcely any agricultural produce. A short time before the ex-
plorers Capello and Ivens passed this way, a Jinga tribe encamped in the vicinity
of the ifTt moved off in the direction of the west, scared away through fear of
being deprived of all their cattle.

Although lacking the agricultural importance for which the Lu-Calla valley
is indebted to its extensive coffee plantations, the basin of the Cuanza mainstream
is neveJ'theless much more frequented as a commercial highway. Dondo, the
first riverain port, is followed eastwards by the town of Pungo-Ndougo, the
"Fetish of Ndongo," chief depot of the dealers trading with the interior of the
continent, and one of the historical cities of Angola. Here formerly resided the
sovereigns from whom the Angolan territory took its name, and here the Portu-
guese founded a permanent settlement so early as the year 1671. This town,
which lies at an altitude of about 4,000 feet above the sea, occupies a remarkable
position in a highly picturesque district. In the middle of a vast plain stretch-
ing southwards in the direction of the Cuanza, abruptly rises to a height of 500
or 600 feet, and even more, a group of conglomerate, schistose, gneiss, and porphyry
crags, presenting the most varied and eccentric outlines. Some have the appear-
ance of obelisks, others of domes, while most of them are disposed in vertical
turret-shaped peaks separated by narrow intervening crevasses, which are ren-
dered conspicuous from a distance by the shrubs of dark green foliage with which
they are overgrowTi. In some of these gorges — a very paradise of botanists, thanks
to the endless variety of their plants — the trees are completely matted with
parasitic creepers, which stretch from crag to crag in form of a vast canopy above
the lower vegetation. In the flowering season this canopy of entangled lianas,
itself now veiled by a dense mass of fiery red blossom, spreads out like a purple
lake embedded between sheer rocky walls. These beautiful rocks of Pungo-
Ndongo are commonly known by the name of Pedras Kegras, or " Black Stones,"
a designation, however, which is little deserved for at least a great part of the
year. At the end of the dry season they assume rather a greyish hue. But in
December, when the crevices of the rocks are flooded by lakelets formed by the
rains, the vertical sides exhibit blackish streaks which gradually broaden out
downwards, at last completely covering the base of the cHffs as with a coating
of black varnish. This coating is composed of myriads of tiny weeds of the
scytonema family, which spring up during the rains but which disappear with the
return of the dry season, scaling off and again revealing .the natural grej-ish tint
of the rocky surface.

On one of these picturesque eminences stands the fortress, while in an irregular
cirque at its foot are grouped the huts of Pungo-Ndongo, environed by orange-
groves and gardens, which are watered by riUs of limpid water. Here are
intermingled the fruit-trees of Europe and the /intilles, above which rise the
spreading branches of a mighty baobab, associated with the first traditions of the

SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

place. Beneath tlic shadow ol this tree was licld the court of Queen Ginga, one
of the great potentates of African traditional history. The rocks have also their
local legends, some of them showing the fanciful imprint of hmnan feet, others
containing caverns whose galleries are supposed to give access to underground
cities.

At Pungo-Xgondo daylight is of shorter duration than in the other towns of
Angola. This is due to the rocky heights, which delay the rising sun and hasten its
setting rays ; while the cliffs are often wrapped in fog and mist during the morning
hours.

East of the " Black Stones," the commercial outpost of Loanda with the

Fig. }G.—Ma.l&soe.
Sonle 1 : r.i7,003.

K *N.i,

7^]

. •'"a^^vnA'

,-■ . ...» .* W.^l £•' •

>■ Kissanfa

LdSfc of ur^ertwich

IS°ae-

- 3,S000 ynrds.

interior is Malange, a small town situated on a vast grassy plain A\-hich, during
the rainy season, resembles a boundless field of wheat. Northwards stretch some
morasses, which might be easily drained and which are the source of some rivu-
lets flowing to the Cuanza below a series of romantic cascades. Malange is still
a Portuguese station, being occupied by a small garrison ; and here also reside
some white traders, who have introduced the national currency. But beyond
this point all European coins have to be exchanged for bales of cloth and other
objects of barter. Here are organised, for their long inland journeys, the
quibiicas, or caravans of traders, agents, brokers, and porters, which penetrate
beyond the Kwango, trading with the surrounding nations and wild tribes as far

BIHE. 47

as the region of the great lakes, and bringing back such commodities as ivorj-,
wax, and caoutchouc.

The southern trade route which starts from Benguella, 300 miles south of
Loanda, also possesses in the Cuanza basin an outlying station towards the
interior. It lies, however, much farther south than JMalange, on the upland
plain whfere are collected the farthest headstreams of the Cuanza. Belmonte, as
this post is called, is not a military station. It was long the residence of the
famous Portuguese traveller, Silva Porto, who was one of the first explorers to cross
the continent from ocean to ocean, and also visited many hitherto little-known
regions of the interior.

The village of Belmonte, as well as the town of Cangomhe, residence of the
most powerful local chief, is commonly designated by the name of Bihe (Bie), a term
applied to the whole plateau, some 5,000 feet above the sea-level, which forms
the waterparting for the streams flowing north to the Cuanza and south to the Ku-
Bango. According to Cappello and Ivens, the Bihenos, who number altogether
about twenty thousand, present no very distinct physical type. Descending from
peoples of the most varied origin, brought by wars and slavery to this plateau,
and having also introduced all manner of usages acquired duriug their long
wanderings over the continent, thej^ possess few characteristic points beyond their
eonimon love of gain and inborn capacity for trade. As many of them have also
learned to read and write, a Portuguese dealer must be himself more than usually
shrewd to get the better of the Bihe agent in their mutual bargainings. As a
rule, the advantage is always on the side of the latter in the international
dealings.

The land thus enriched by profitable commercial pursuits might also become
one of the granaries of the continent ; for the reddish silicious claj-ey soil is
extremely fertile, ar/l dui-ing the rain}^ season vegetation seems, so to say, to
spring up with a visible growth. Capello and Ivens, who organised their
expedition for the interior near Belmonte, obtained in two months abundant crops
from a piece of ground near the camp, on which beans, maize, and other cereals
had been carelessly scattered. One of the natives assured them with the utmost
seriousness that, during the rainy season, he had one day stuck his freshly-cut
staff into the mud in front of his hut, and stood at the door spinning a long j-arn
to his relations seated round about, and that, before he had finished, he found
himself under the shade of a mighty tree, whose existence was totally unknown
to him, but which on examination he foimd to be his staff, that had taken root,
shot out branches and leaves, and showed signs of bursting into flower. The
vegetation of this region must be marvellously rapid to gA^e rise to such popular
" yarns."

Travellers coming from the wildernesses of the interior speak in enthusiastic
language of this " earthly paradise," where, after long periods of scarcity and
hardships, they suddenly find an abundance of exquisite fruits aud vegetables.
The rich plateau of Bihe has accordingly been spoken of as a promising field of
future colonisation for the hard-pressed Portuguese peasantry. But during the

48 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

rainy eeason fevers are here unfortunately scarcely less dangerous than on the
lowlands, and many of the natives suffer from goitre. American missionaries
have also established themselves in the district ; but their principal station
lies farther west, in the territory of the Baduudos, which Ladislus Magyar calls
the " heart of the IJunda country."

The chief article of exchange introduced by the Bihenos into the interior is
the fazemla, or bale of cotton, either plain or striped, of English manufacture and
generally of rather inferior quality. The baneful Hamburg brandy, more or less
mixed with drugs and diluted with water, is also a great article of exchau/^o with
nearly all the surrounding tribes. The caravans supply them, moreover, with
rifles, powder and shot, and other munitions of war, besides tablets of salt, brass
wire, white and red china beads, and glass trinkets, mostly imported through
England from Bohemia. Umbrellas and nightcaps are also much sought after
in the former kingdom of Lunda and conterminous lands. Traders have,
lastlj', to provide themselves with carpets, rugs, uniforms, embroidered fabrics,
and other more costh' wares, as presents for the chiefs, whose permission they
have thus to purchase in order to transact business with their subjects.

In exchange for these European commodities, the dealers bring back ivory,
caoutchouc, wax, honey, palm-oil, and skins of wild animals. The porters, hired
either for the whole journey or for a certain distance, arc loaded with burdens
never weighing less than a hundred and seldom more than a hundred and thirty-
five pounds, the weight varying according to the season and the difficulties of
the route. The porter also frequently procures the assistance of another native,
and at times, turning trader himself, he is accompanied by one or more women,
who carry his provisions and the purchases ho makes on setting out. His
services are paid either partly or altogether in advance ; but the tribal chief, in
whose presence the contract price is stipulated, becomes responsible for the conduct
of the porter in case of his making off with the goods or deserting the caravan.
On the other hand, the merchant is held to be answerable for all the crimes or
offences committed by his retainers in the districts visited by the convoy. The
least infringement of the local usages gives rise to interminable " palavers,"
which are invariably concluded by the imposition of a fine on the stranger.

The traders, journeying from land to land, are for the most part ijrovided with
the impemha, or passport, which, however, is not inscribed on paper or parchment,
but made non-transferable by being painted on the body. At the starting-place
they present themselves to the chief to explain the projected journey and make
the customary offering of a sacrificial animal and a rag dipped in blood. The
traveller must carefully preserve this precious talisman, as well as a piece of chalk,
with which the chief traces certain cabalistic signs on his forehead, breast, and
arms ; and when these signs get effaced he renews them with the chalk, taking
great care not in any way to alter their form.

South of the Cuanza the coastlands, occupied by the Quissamas and other still
independent natives, liave no groups of habitations beyond a few little bartering
stations scattered over a space of about 120 miles. The fortalice of Benr/uella

BENGUELLA. 49

Velha, or "Old Benguella," which was erected in the fifteenth century on a head-
land overlooking the north side of the Cuvo estuary, has been abandoned. The
town of Novo-Rcdondo, which replaces it some distance farther south, is a mere
cluster of hovels perched on a cliff nearly inaccessible from the sea. At the foot
of the escarpment, and of a fortress founded in 1769, flows the little river Gunza,
fringed with shady palms, but obstructed at its mouth by a sandy bar. According
to Ladislas Magyar deposits of sulphur occur at some distance inland, but they
lie idle, as do also the copper mines of Sumle-Ambela, near the mouth of the
Cuvo.

Qnitombo, south of Novo-Redoudo, is a group of factories and a re-victualling
station for passing ships. JEffito or Lucito, midway between Novo-Redondo and
Benguella, is merely a military post commanding the entrance of the ri^•er of like
name. Till recently it was, so to say, permanently blockaded by the surrounding
tribes, so that about every two months the little garrison had to close the gates
and fire on the assailants.

Bexfjuella, capital of the central province of the same name, although a much
smaller place than its northern rival, Loanda, presents none the less a charming
prospect, being pleasantly grouped in amphitheatrical form on the slopes of a
steep escarpment. Its low but spacious houses, enclosing large courts and sur-
rounded by gardens, occupy a considerable space, which is still further extended
by the public promenades and shady avenues. The citadel of San-Filippe, from
which the town itself takes its official designation, was erected in 1617 on the
headland which projects seawards on the south-west side. The ri^•ulet of Cavaco,
which in the dry season is merely a sandy bed, flows to the north of the town
some miles beyond the point where the CattimheUa reaches the coast. This river,
which during the floods gives access to the quays of a small trading station, is
commanded by a fort of the same name.

The hills encircling Benguella are clothed with brushwood, which till recently
was the haunts of wild animals. The inhabitants being too few to protect them-
selves from their inroads, artillerj' had to be employed to scare away the elephants,
who were lajing waste the neighbouring plantations. The white population con-
sists partly of convicts or criminals banished to this remote station, while the
mixed native element represents all the races in the Portuguese possessions in
Africa. Bihenos here jostle natives of Cabinda, Ambaquistas mingle with Kiokos,
and when the caravans reach the Catumbella river from the interior, the observer
might fancy himself suddenly transported to some market town in the kingdom
of the late Muata Yamvo. Several European traders have built their villas on the
neighbouring beach, which being exposed to the marine breezes is more healthy
than Benguella.

This seaport, whose exports, chiefly ivory, rubber, was and orchilla, exceeded
£260,000 in 1897, is connected with Bihe by a trade route, which runs eastwards
along the valley of the Catumbella. But two other and longer routes make a
detour to the south, one by the valley of the Cavaco and the village of Sapa, the
other by the basin of the Capororo river. This watercourse, which separates the

AFRICA IV. e

60 SOUTH xlND EAST AFEICA.

Dombe-Pcqueno district on tho north from that of Dombe-Grande on the south,
serves in its lower course to irrigate extensive sugar-cane plantations used for the
manufacture of spirits. Tho sands of the fluvial bed, when the waters have been
evaporated by the summer heats, are also cultivated, yielding abundant crops of
maize and manioc. The flour packed in bushels is forwarded in large quantities
to Bcnguella and to the lauding stage on the bay of Cuio, a small marine inlet
at the mouth of the Capororo.

Although this river flows on the surface only during the rainy season, its bed
is always dangerous to cross near the sea, where occur numerous sinks and pools of
deep water, and here and there quagmires concealing an imdcrgrouud cui'i-cnt, in
which the careless wayfarer runs tho risk of being swallowed up. The two
districts of Dombe hare acquired some importance from their mineral resources,
the gneiss formations near the Cuio inlet containing pockets of rich copper ores,
as well as lodes of argentiferous lead. The neighbouring hills of gypsum,
forming the backbone of the country in the direction of BeugucUa, also contain
enormous masses of pure sulphur. Monteiro noticed an eminence which seemed
to be composed entirely of this substance, while from the selenitc dejiosits he was
able to extract some excellent plaster, fidly equal to that obtained in the Paris
basin.

The upper course of the Capororo, here known as the Calunga, traverses tho
rich valley of QtiiUciigiics, where resides a powerfid chief. This upper basin,
lying at an altitude of from 2,800 to 3, -'500 feet above the sea, still presents a
tropical aspect in its exuberant vegetation, although herds of cattle now graze ia
the extensive forest clearings. The Ba-Nano wild tribes occupying the northern
districts frequently make incursions into the Quillengues Valley in order to raid
on these herds. They are said to have the power of inducing the animals to follow
them spontaneously over hill and dale merely by the device of beating to time two
pieces of stick, and at intervals repeating certain notes of call. The rugged
Serra Vissecua, which has to be crossed in order to descend from Quillengues
eastwards down to the Cunene basin, is of very difficult access, but was traversed
by the explorers Capello and Ivens at an elevation of 4,800 feet.

South of Benguella and Dombe the first centre of popxJation occurring on the
coast is the prosperous modem town of Mossamedes, from which the southernmost
prorince of Angola takes its name. In 178-5 the Bay of Angra do Negro, tho
Little Fish Bay of the English, had already received this appellation in honour of
a certain General Mossamedes ; but the first Portuguese settlement in the district
dates only from the j-ear 1840. The new colony developed more rapidly than the
old factories and establishments on the Angolan coast farther north, and although
it does not take, like Benguella, the title of " city," Mossamedes is a larger place,
of all tho towns in the Portuguese African possessions yielding to Loanda alone
in population. In 1884 nearly three hundred and fifty natives of Madeira joined
the colony, which has a relatively larger proportion of whites than any other
place along this coast. While the European and Brazilian immigrants settle in
other places for the most part without their families, they generally come to

MOSSAMEDES. 61

Mossamedes with their wives and children, although even here the mortality is
always in excess of the births. The relative prosjjerity enjoyed by this southern
town is in part also due to its privilege of never having been a centre of the slave
trade, like Benguella and Loanda. Hitherto it has been chiefly occupied with
fishing and agricidmral jiursuits.

The Yort of llossamedes is sheltered from all winds and sufficiently deep to
allow large vessels to ride at anchor close inshore. But on arriving on this
desolate-looking coast, with its dunes, sandy plains, and rocky escarpments
encircling a few groups of houses and rows of palms, the visitor asks what such
an arid region can supply for an export trade, which in any case scarcely exceeded
£70,000 in 1897. But if the soil is ungrateful the sea at least is bountiful,
teeming -n-ith everj^ variety of animal life. The fishermen on the coast capture
and cure thousands of large fish which resemble the cod, and from which they
extract an abundance of " cod-liver oil " for exportation. And although the land
round about Mossamedes is too barren and waterless to be profitably cultivated, the
beds of the wadys which wind bet-^yeen the hills are highly productive. Here
gardens, banana and orange groves, cotton and sugar-cane plantations, develop a
continuous zone of magnificent vegetation, while sugar refineries have already
been established by the immigrants from Pernambuco. The cultivated tracts
along the Rio Bero and the Rio Giraul, a few miles north of Mossamedes, yield
excellent returns to the husbandman, and farther inland the stockbreeders raise
large herds of cattle for the markets of the Cape and the Gaboon. As in Kafirland
and the Dutch South African repubKcs, the so-called boi-cavallos, or "riding-oxen,"
are bred by the farmers. In 1897, the province of Mossamedes was handed over
to a chartered comjjany, which has undertaken to introduce capital and develop
the resources of the country.

Mossamedes communicates with the eastern slope of the coast range by a
natural route partly improved by the labour of man, who has had here and there
to remove obstructions and reduce the incline in the more difficult sections. Some
of the heights hitherto inaccessible to pack-animals have thus been rendered
practicable by a series of cuttings and zigzags climbing the slopes of the hills.
The waggons and teams of the Dutch immigrants are now enal^led to cross the
Chella Moimtains and descend into the Mossamedes district.

On the western slope of these highlands the most important station is the
fortified post of Capanc/otHbe, where are to be had proidsions and stores of goods
for the barter trade. Along the route water sometimes fails, although reservoirs
are usually maintained in the cavities of the granite rocks. The Pedra Grande,
one of these natural basins, consists of an isolated block risipg in the midst of the
plain, and hollowed out with such perfect regularity that it looks like the work of
man. A few plantations are scattered amongst the more humid depressions
watered by springs or brooks. The pass across the Chella range, standing at an
altitude of about 5,400 feet, forms a pleasant grassy tableland, irrigated by limpid
streams, and recently brought under cultivation by the Portuguese coffee and
sugar-cane planters.

6i SOUTU AND EAST A1''RICA.

The Cimeiio basin, wliich is reached after crossing the Cholla Moutitaius,
confiiiiis in its upper parts a few little outposts of the Portu<ji:uose tloniinion.
These stations promise one day to acquire a certain importance as rallj-ing points
for immigrants, but have hitherto remained obscure hamlets. Even the military
post of Caconda, lying on a plain traversed by a western afBuont of the Upper
Cuuene, had till recently been almost abandoned by traders, the caravans of the
Ganguella tribes conveying nothing but a little ivory and wax to this station.
The Nanos, Iluambos, and other local tribes have withdrawn to a distance in order
to avoid the oppressive imposts levied by the clw/es who represent the Portuguese
authority. Some of the sobas, or native chiefs, whose predecessors had i*eg\darly
taken the oath of fidelity to the King of Portugal, lately refused to do so any
longer, and the vast and fertile plain, which might easily support a population of
a million, is said to have not more than eight thousand inhabitants.

Nevertheless it seems impossible that such a favoured land can fail to become
a flourishing agricultural and commercial region. At this mean altitude of about
5,400 feet above the sea the temperature is mild, and the country, if not entirely
free from fever, as has been asserted, is at least relatively salubrious. Here all
the plants of the temperate zone flourish by the side of a sub-tropical vegetation,
and coffee would certainly succeed, to judge at least from the oriango, or will
species, found growing in the forests.

In its vegetation, its rimning waters, and genial climate, Caconda (5,650 feet)
is a land of promise, which some Transvaal Boers have already visited in order to
study its resources and found settlements. Several Portuguese, mostly convicts,
own a few gardens planted round about a little fort which dates from the seven-
teenth century. The Portuguese administration is also now engaged in improv-
ing the highwa\s leading from Caconda and the Upper Cunene north-westwards
in the direction of Beuguella.

The station of Huilla, at the eastern foot of the Chella Mountains, has recently
outstripped Caconda, thanks to its greater relative proximity to the sea-coast, and
to the arrival of some Dutch settlers from Transvaal. A Catholic mission under
French control has also established itself at Hiulla, where the priests have
founded a college for educating the children of the traders residing on the coast.
The dwellings are surrounded by gardens growing European plants, and avenues
of the eucah-ptus fringe the banks of the torrent which flows to the Caculovar,
chief affluent of the Cunene.

On a terrace to the north of Iluilla has been founded San-Januario, the
principal Boer station, which also takes the name of Humpata from the surround-
ing district. Ilere a^■c scattered the neat little cabins with wooden frames,
thatched roof, and cowdung floor, built by the Afrikanders on the model of their
Transvaal dwellings. During this long frek, or exodus from their southern
homes, the Boers had to endure great hardships and privations, as they drove
their herds before them, plodding wearily from pasturage to pasturage, sojourning
for months together in some more favoured localities in order to recruit their
strength, but again exposing themselves to the inclemency of the weather, and

HUMPATA. 58

facing tho perils of forced raarclics across the waterless wilderness. Many

perished of exhaustion, and the report even spread that all had succumbed. But

towards the close of the year 1880 some four or five hundred survivors at last

reached the promised land, distant more than 1,200 miles from the mother country.

But even here under this favoured climate of Mossamedcs the fates still pursued

them ; shiall-pox broke out amongst the new arrivals and decimated their ranks ;

nearly all the horses, which they had brought with them to the great terror of

the natives, died of fatigue ; all the flocks of sheep disappeared together with

two-thirds of the horned cattle. Despair seized many of the settlers, who em-

bai-kcd for the Cape ; others retracing their steps endeavoured to return overland

to Transvaal, while others resuming the trek penetrated from stage to stage

farther into the Cunene basin and the region of the inland plateaux. Cut some

few held out against fate itself.

At present the plains of Humpata, being carefully cxdtivated and irrigated by
well-constructed canals, yield an ample supply of jjrovisions for the inhabitants.
The Boers are also endeavouring to increase their live-stock from the few animals
that survived the trek across the desert. As hunters they pursue the elephant
and hippopotamus, utilising the fat in the preparation of soaji, and they have also
turned to mining in order to smelt the iron ores of the neighbouring rocks and
wash thei streams for gold dust. Others again have become traders, journeying as
far as Walvisch Bay in the Damara country to purchase European wares, and
acting as conveyors between Huilla and the port of Mossamedos. Their indus-
trious habits have thus enabled them to acquire a certain degree of comfort, while
also ensuring the permanency of their settlement. Since their arrival the trade
between both elopes of the coast-range has been more than doubled.

Although very suspicious of their Portuguese neighbours, who speak another
language and profejs a different belief, they have nevertheless reconciled them-
selves to the contact of these "aliens," even protecting them against the incur-
sions of various marauding tribes, to whom is applied the collective designation of
"Hottentots." Some marriages have even already been contracted between the
Portuguese and the daughters of the Ugaras, as the immigrants from Transvaal
are locally called. Hitherto nothing has been required of them beyond a purel}'
theoretical recognition of the Portuguese suzerainty, which is represented at
Humpata by a single official. For all communal matters they have been per-
mitted to retain complete self-government.

From these first groups various branches have already been detached, which
have proceeded to found fresh settlements in various other parts of the country.
But the tide of German immigration has not yet penetrated into the Upper
Cunene basin, notwithstanding the efforts that had been made to divert it to that
region. The peasantry have hitherto rejected the bait held out to them by the
traveller Dewitz, who in 1884 acquired possession of a large piece of land for the
purpose of founding colonies in the Luceque district about the confluence of the
Catapi and Cunene rivers.

East and south of Huilla the other military and missionary stations, such as

SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

Gamboa and Humhe [Kumhi), have hitherto remained mere groups of cabins
inhabited by the natives. Along this marshy tract of the Middle Ciincne the
white poi)ulatiou has so far been represented only by a few solitary individuals,

chiefly fishermen attracted by

Fig.

17. — TioEB Bat a>t> the Cunen-e.

Ecilc I : 700,000.

the multitude of fish in this
part of the stream. The sec-
tion of the seaboard lying
between Mossamedes and the
Cunene estuary, political
boundary of Angola, has
also remained almost imin-
habited. Yet this part ol
the coast presents the rare
advantage of the two excel-
lent havens of Bahia Pinda
{Port Alexander) and Bahia
dos Tigres {Great Fish Bay),
both formed by sand-banks
deposited in a line with the
coast, and connected by a
narrow strip with the main-
land. On the lofty headland
of Cabo Negro, which com-
mands the northern entrance
of Port Alexander, are still
visible the remains of apedriio,
or a stnne block erected in
1485 by Diego Cam to com-
memorate his discoveries. A
similar memorial pile crowns
the summit of Cape Santa-
Slaria, between Dombe-
Grande and Mossamedes.

Despite the fertility of its
plateaux and river valleys,
Angola still remains one of
those African lands in which
hunting and fishing continue
to have almost as much im-
portance as husbandry. But
this could scarcely be other-
wise in a region which was formerly depopulated by the slave trade, and where the
desolate seaboard consequentlv presents but few plantations and cultivated tracts.
At the same time the withdrawal of wild animals towards the interior, and

0to32
Feet.

Depths.

160 Feet and
upwards.
12 MQes.

EESOUECES OF ANGOLA.

Fig. 18.— Chiei' Zones op Useful Plants in Angola.

Scale 1 : 10.000,000.

Ericol »

the reckless destruction of forests along the coast continually diminish the
natural resources of the land, and give a correspondingly greater relative value
to the products of human industry. Ivory, which next to slaves was formerly
the most valuable commodity exported from Angola,* tends to disappear, while
the tusks obtained from the more inland regions are forwarded by the Congo
route. ,

In the same way the supply of caoutchouc, which was at one time exported to
the yearly value of from £120,000 to £160,000, wiU necessarily fall off when the
lianas from which it is ex-
tracted ' shall have disap-
peared from all the districts
near the seaboard. The
orcliilla moss used in dyeing,
which hangs in festoons
from the branches of the
baobab and other large
forest trees, has already be-
come much scarcer than for-
merly ; gum copal, however,
which is annually forwarded
from the Angolan ports, is
still foimd in abundance on
the coastlands, and is sup-
plemented by large quanti-
ties of wax brought down
from the interior by the
natives. The modern in-
dustrial arts have, moreover,
imparted a special value to
numerous natural products
of Angola for which hither-
to no use could be found.
The palms yield their oils,
fibre, and fruits ; the aca-
cias offer their gums and

resins ; the euphorbias supply their sap, the so-called ahneidina, or starch extract ;
while from the baobab are obtained the bark and bast, which serve for the manu-
facture of cordage, paper, and even cloth. And how many vegetable growths are
still met in the forests, whose wood, leaves, gums, or fruits might be utilised
for their industrial or medicinal properties ! Amongst these plants there are
some the timber of which is proof against the attacks of the destructive termite.

EastotGreenwicb

Palms.

Copal.

CoflFee. Mai^e and Manioc.

Depths.

0 to 320
Feet.

320 Feet and
upwards.

180 Miles.

• Revenue of the Province of Angola in 1S34 : — Sale of slayes, £20,000, or four-fiftlia of the whole ;
other revenues, £4,000, or one-fifth of the whole.

SOUTH AND E.VST AFRICA.

Angola is also ricli in mineral rcsourcea, cbicf amongst whicli arc the extensive
cojjpor ores.

The chief cultivated plants arc those which yield alimentarj- substances for the
local consiunption. Manioc, which is grown principally in the northern districts
of Angola, is replaced in the southern provinces by maize, millet, and sorgho.
The European fruits and vegetables, as well as the Chinese tea plant, have also
been introduced, and thrive well at least in the upland vtillcys. Since the year
1840 potatoes have been grown by the Bihenos in the region forming the great
divide between the Cuanza, Kwango, and Cunene basins. The coast towns
are generally surrounded by gardens, the umbrageous arimos of Loandi. being

Fig. 19. — COFFEE-OEOWDIQ ReOIOX OP AxOOLA.
Scile I : 1,000,000.

, V,-

" Sv

;-r

'yic'-rj'^'.

n-^p -\

^*^^^!

14.°5a-

Last oT Greenwich

IS MUcs,

rivalled by the more productive hortas of Mossamedes. Even the vine has been
planted in some districts, and tobacco, cotton, and ground-nuts are also included
amongst the products of the countrj-. Mossamedes cultivates the sugar-cano,
which serves chiefly for the distillation of sjjirits. But the staple agricultural
product is certaiiilj- the coffee berry. Since the middle of the present century this
industry has acquired a rapid development not only in the Cazengo district,
but also throughout the basin of the Lu-culla and aU its afliucnls.

Stockbreeding has but slight economic importance on the coastlands. Between
the Congo and Cuanza estuaries there are no herds of horned cattle, and the
attempts made iu many places to raise oxen, horses or mules have resulted in

EESOUECES OF ANGOLA. 57

failure. Even dogs Icse tlieir scent and perisli, and at Bembe cats become

paralysed in a few months after their arrival. The meat-markets along the
seaboard are supplied mainly from the inland plateaux, although stockbreeding
succeeds very well almost everywhere south of the Cuanza. The formidable
tsetse fly, which infests such extensive tracts in East Africa, is unknown in
Angola, jvhere cattle diseases are also generally less fatal than in the Zambese and
Limpopo basins.

A baneful inheritance bequeathed by the institution of slavery is the prevailing
.lystem of large landed estates. Nearly all the domains belonging to the planters
are of vast extent, comprising many hundreds and even thousands of acres, and
what is worse, the proprietor rarely, and in some districts never, resides with his
family on the plantation. In this respect, however, the province of Mossamedes
presents a happy contrast to the other parts of Angola. Here the land is owned
in mucli smaller lots, and many planters dwell in the midst of their labourers.
The grants made in this agricidtural region can never exceed 150 acres, whereas
in the central and northern provinces the vast domains are still administered
prett}- much in the same way as in the days of Negro servitude. In fact on most
of these plantations the so-called contratados, or coolies hired by contract, are
temporarily attached like serfs to the glebe, working under the direction of
Portuguese gangers or task-masters. Slavery no doubt is abolished, but not so
the custom of long contract service, so that the natives are even hired and
despatched to the plantations of Sao-Thome for periods of two, four, or even
five years.

At the same time, most of the hands employed on the great estates are so
indebted to their masters that they can scarcel)' hope ever to become quite
independent. Wages run verj' low, and the monej- used in paying the Negroes is
of less intrinsic value than that current amongst the whites. The reis fracos,
intended for circxdation amongst the Negroes, represents onlj' three-fifths in value
of the corresponding reis fortes, legal currenej'. Beyond the plantations slavery
still flourishes amongst the native populations in defiance of the law. The slave
is of course aware that he might claim his freedom in any Portuguese town ; but
custom is here stronger than right, and he dare not enforce his claim. Doubtless
he is honoured with the title of "son," like the real offspring of his owner ; but
he is not the " uterine son," but only the "son of barter," or of the "cotton-bale."

Industry in the strict sense of the term is still in its infancy, although there
exist in some parts of the country certain factories or workshops where the native
hands have learnt to make iise of European appliances. Such are the important
brickfields near Loanda, besides numerous manufactories qf matting in the Cuanza
valley, and several distilleries and cigar factories in the coast towns, while
Mossamedes even boasts of both a spinning and a weaving mill, founded by an
Alsatian. The locomotive also has made its appearance at Loanda on the line of
railway already constructed from the coast to Ambaca. The telegraph system
has been developed in the interior as far as the coflPee plantations, and small
steamers ply on the river Cuanza. Good carriage roads now connect Loanda

58 SOUTH AND EAST AFBICA.

with tho two nciglibouring rivers, Dondo with the Lu-Calla, Donibe-Grando with
Cuio, CatunibcUa witli Benguella, and Mossamodcs with tho various settlements
founded in tho southern province. But in sjiito of all these public facilities
and improvements, the foreign trade of Angola has not increased as rapidly
as might have been expected. In some years it has even diminished, at least
in appearance, owing to the displacement of large streams of traffic. Tho public
tariffs are so exorbitant that traders naturally seek an outlet for their produce
in the free zone of the northern districts. Nevertheless, the exchanges have in
recent years again shown an upward tendency, the imports and exports having
advanced from £652,000 and £7-10,000 respectively, in 1891, to £827,000 and
£1,040,000 in 1897.

Over two-thirds of the foreign trade of Angola is carried on with England,
and nearly all the imported textile fabrics arc of British manufacture. Tho
Portuguese merchants derive but little benefit from this movement, fully five-
sixths of the whole trade of the country being diverted from the ports of Lisbon
and Oporto. Hence the current remark that the part played by the metropolis
on tho Angolan seaboard was merely that of coast-guards in the service of foreign
commerce.

Public instruction is more developed in Angola than might bo supposed,
judging only from tho number of schools. Thousands of natives, descendants of
those formerly taught by the missionaries, learn to read in their families hundreds
of miles from any public educational establishments. The postal service and tho
relative importance of the press also testify to a higher general level of instruc-
tion than that of some countries where schools are more numerous. An observa-
tory has been founded at Loanda.

The Portuguese province of Angola, to which the designation of " kingdom "
is also sometimes applied, is in eomiilete dependence on the central government at
Lisbon. It is represented neither by elected members nor^by special deputies,
excefjt to tho Lisbon Cortes. Iloncc the administration is entirely carried on by
instructions transmitted from Portugal to the governor- general, who resides at
Loanda. This system of political pujiilage, which cannot but retard the natural
development of the colony, is explained if not justified by the handful of Europeans
scattered over a vast territorj', nearly all of whom are moreover cither government
officials, traders, or exiles, whose chief interests and moral ties are still rooted in
tho mother coimtry. The only object of the traders and their assistants is to make
rapid fortunes, or at least amass sufficient wealth to enable them to spend the rest
of their days in comfort at home. The officials and military follow their vocation
abroad in the hoj^e of more rapid promotion on their return to Europe, while the
dfgrcdados, or convicts, have to recover the rights of citizenship by a long residence
in the colonies.

During the decade from 1888 to 1897 not more that 4,200 immigrants settled in
the country. The natives have on their part preserved their primitive method of
government, except in the vicinity of the towns and plantations, where the
traditional bonds of the tribe or clan become loosened or broken. As a rule the

ADMINISTEATION OF ANGOLA. 59

blacks still elect their own soba (chief), or else acknowledge him according to
the laws of succession in the several tribes, which sometimes runs in the direct
line from father to son, but more commonly from brother to brother or else from
uncle to sister's son. But by the side of the soba, whose autonomy increases in
direct proportion with his distance from the Portuguese military stations, there
reside tbe chcfes, or political agents, appointed by the governor of Loanda. These
chefes claim the right of interfering under various circumstances in the internal
affairs of the tribes, and apply themselves above all to the increase of taxation,
more to their own benefit than to that of the Portuguese treasury. In virtue of
special decrees they had formerly the power of compelling the natives to work, and
thus reducing them to the position of a disguised slavery, by exacting a certain
share of unremimerated labour at their hands. They named at pleasure the parsons
who had to work gratuitously for them in the capacity of carregadores, or porters.
But this iniquitous svstem of corvee was abolished in the year 1856.

The direct administration of Portugal being restricted to a few points on the
coast and in the interior, and the local tribes being for the most part of a very
docile disposition, not more than a few hundred Portuguese soldiers are required
for garrisons in the military posts or for hostile expeditions. Hence the budget
is almost entirely devoted to the civil service, the expenditure being partly covered
by the customs. Nevertheless the public revenues are far from sufficing to cover
the outlay, especially during the last few years. Thus its West African posses-
sions have always been a burden to the mother country, as is the case with most
colonial dominions which take no part in the local administration.

The territory of Angola is divided into five districts, which are again sub-
divided into coiicelhos often of considerable extent. But some of these circles
contain so few ci^-ilised inhabitants that it has been found impossible to establish
any regular administration in them. A table of the districts and concelhos, with
their chief towns, will be found in the Apijendix. Of these towns two alone,
Loanda and Benguella, rank as cidades, or "cities," all the rest being "villas " —
towns, boroughs, or ^Tllages.

CHAPTER II.

GER^rAN SOUTH-WEST AFEICA.
(Da^iaua and Nauiacjua Lands.)

TIE section of Ihc African seaboard stretching from Angola with
considerable uniformity for 900 miles southwards to the Orange
river was declared German territory in the year 1884, when it
received the official designation of " South-west Africa." The vaat
region thus peaceably annexed had previously been known as
Liuleritzland, from the German trader who acquired it by moans of contracts
made with the chiefs of the few coast tribes and with those of the inland
populations, who had been brought under the influence of the Rhenish
missionaries.

I3eforo this epoch, when as by a stroke of the magician's wand the country
found itself placed under the protection of the German Empire, Great Britain
supposed herself to be the ^artual siizerain of the land as far north as Cape Frio,
although in actual possession only of a single station on the shores of "Walvisch
Bay. At the time of the first negotiations opened by the German diplomatists
regarding the posts established by subjects of the empire, the British minister
declared that any settlements made bj* a foreign power in the region in question
would bo an encroachment on the rights of Groat Brituin. The Cape Govornmont
even passed a vote to take formal possession of the tcrritor}- in litigation, b.ut it
was already too late. After an exchange of dispatches, which had begun to
assume a threatening tone on the part of Germany, the whole of Liideritzland,
with the exception of the TiYalvisch Bay enclave, was recognised as a Germanic
possession. The German diplomatists, moreover, concluded a treaty with
Portugal, securing for their Government the protectorate of the territory which
stretches from Cape Frio northwards to the mouth of the Cunenc.

The region of " South-west Africa," which reaches inland as far as the
twenty-first degree cast longitude, and at one point extends to the right bank of
the Zambese, is the first in chronological order of all the lands which in Africa and
Polynesia constitute the vast colonial dominion acquired by the Germans in the
course of sixteen years. But Ilerr Liideritz, (o whoso energy and foresight
the mother country was indebted for tlie acquit^ition, soon after mysteriously

GEBMAN SOUTH-WEST AFRICA.

disappeared somewhere on the south coast ; and some time elapsed before any-
practical steps were taken to occupy the country. No military force having been
placed at the service of the traders, the conversion of the natives into German
subjects remained a pure fiction, nor did it prevent marauding bands from lifting
the cattle of the German commissioner at the very door of his residence. In fact,
little was done by the Berlin authorities to assert their claims, bej'ond forwarding
a few rifles to the coast for distribution amongst the warriors of the friendly or

Kg. 20.— CiiiDF Routes of Exploeees in DawahaTiANd.

Srnle 1 : 7 OOO.MO

1>.f •

^'■-■^Olokonda

/-■

^%5.

■'-'.,<*

; >j

^-- \;

f \'

M'-

.- .■< <h.'-

-•■-yr-Sh'iuH- ;.!■-■ •;

,22'

East cf Greenwich

I3">.

Depths.

0 to 1,000
Fatboms.

1,000 Fathoms
and upwards.

120 Miles.

allied populations. The rulers who commanded most ready submission to their man-
dates were not the civil functionaries, but the Protestant missionaries of the cen-
tral and southern districts. Stationed since the year 1842 amongst the Damaras,
thev at present possess over twenty establishments between the Cunene and Orange

rivers.

Thanks to these missionaries, as well as to the traders, sportsmen, and mining
prospectors, who have traversed the whole territory in various directions, the new-
German colonial possession is already well known, at least in its general features.
Even the northern tracts, farthest removed from the centre of South African

62 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

exploration at Cape Town, had been visited by Galton, Audersson, Bainel, Smuts,
Green, Ilahn and Ptath, Hartley, Coates, Palgrave, and Duparquet ; and since the
proclamation of the new political regime, a large number of German travellers
have been attracted to these regions in order to study their geographical conditions,
and especially to examine their economic resources. Special charts have been
prepared of the seaports and mineral deposits, and the work of preliminary explora-
tion has received a decided impulse from the official annexation.

Physical Features.

In its main outlines the relief of the land forms a southern continuatio" of the
Angolan uplands and lowlands. The ground rises in terraces to the crest of a
plateau near the coast, beyond which it again falls eastwards in the direction of
an inland fluvial basin. The whole region from the Cunene to the Orange
presents the aspect of an elongated protuberance of somewhat regular form, whose
axis runs exactly parallel with the coast-line. This long elevated ridge is, how-
ever, completely isolated, and whereas the Angolan tablelands are connected
eastwards with the waterpartings between the Congo and Zambese basins, those
of Damara and Namaqua lands arc limited in this direction by profound depres-
sions separating them from the Kalahari Desert and from the Ku-Bango and the
upper affluents of the Orange river.

Separated also from the Chella highlands by the gorges traversed ' by the
Cunene, these rocky heights of Damaraland, commonly designated by the name of
Kaoko, at first rise but slightly above the general level of the land. But south
of the limestone Otavi hills they gradually rise higher and higher, until several
eminences attain elevations of 8,000 feet and upwards, while a veritable highland
system with its dome-shaped summits and table rocks is developed to the jiorth-
cast and cast of Walvisch Bay. Mount Omatako, culminating point i)f this
system, has an altitude of no less than 7,630 feet, and th?3 majestic peak is
encircled by numerous other less elevated but still imposing summits.

Farther south the main axis again falls to a height of little over 3,000 feet ;
in many places the continuous ridge even disappears altogether, or rather becomes
broken into groups of isolated hills resting on a common pedestal, which presents
the aspect of a shield with its convex side uppermost. Here and there some of
the more conspicuous eminences assume the fantastic outlines of towers, pinnacles,
and needles. Still farther south the vast region of great Namaqualand is still
traversed by a somewhat continuous ridge or unbroken line of elevated hills, and
the route which runs from the coast at Angra Pequcna eastwards to Bethany
crosses the intervening chain at an altitude of 5,300 feet. In all these uplands
the prevailing formations -are gneiss, micaceous schists, crystalline limestones, with
intruding granites, porphyries, and other eruptive rocks. Masses of basalt are
also said to occur.

The main axis of the Damara and Namaqua highlands runs parallel with the
seaboard at an average distance of about 120 miles inland, but in several places
the intervening space between the first escarpments and the coast is much more

PHYSICAL FEATURES OF SOUTH-WEST AFRICA. 63

considerable. East of "Wahiscli Bay this intervening space constitutes the
K"amieb district, that is, the vlahfe or cekl of the Dutch, and the jjlain of the
English settlers. It may in some respects be compared to the hamadas of Arabia
and Xorth Africa, for although it presents the general appearance of a plain, the
traveller crossing the Xamieb in the direction from west to east is continually but
imperceptibly ascending, until at 60 miles from the Bay he finds himself 2,000
feet above the level of the sea. Seen from the coast the Teld masks the profile
of the inland mountains, yet as he scales the crests of the dunes the wayfarer
fancies he has before him a perfectly level plain with a boundless horizon. The
German '>xplorer Stapff thinks that the Namieb is an old marine bed, its aspect
being that of an immense shallow basin of a shifting brown and whitish colour.
During the dry season, that is, throughout the greater part of the year, the
surface is as hard as that of a paved street ; but it becomes very difficult to
traverse when the rains have softened the upper layer of calcareous or gj-pseous
clay with which the sands are agglutinated in a concrete mass. At this season
the cartwheels leave behind them deep ruts which may be traced years after-
wards. The rainwater, which lodges in the few depressions scattered over the
surface, slowly evaporates, leaving in its place fine gypseous or saline efilorescences,
the so-called salt-pans of the English settlers.

In the vicinity of the hills the detritus is seen here and there of gneiss, quartz,
or schistose rocks, which appear to have been decomposed by weathering, leaving
on the ground patches of diverse colours. A few still standing blocks present a
smooth surface, that has been polished by the action of the sands driving before
the winds.

The lower part of the gently inclined Xaniicb plain, which descends down to
the coast, is covered with sandy dunes, and varies in breadth from a few thousand
yards to sixtj' miles inland. Some of these dunes rise to heights of considerably
over 300 feet, and are' consequently as elevated as those of the landes skirting the
south-eastern shores of the Bay of Biscay. They are disposed in numerous
parallel chains separated by intervening depressions, which are themselves dotted
over with hillocks of smaller size. South of Walvisch Bay no less than six of
these sandy ridges have to be successively traversed to reach the interior. Their
slopes facing the marine breezes are nearly solid, while the opposite side, being
strewn ■with arenaceous particles brought by the land wind, is of a much looser
texture. A few herbaceous and scrubby plants with trailing roots grow on the
surface of the dunes, and help to consolidate them by binding the sand together.

These coast dimes have their origin probably in ancient uj^heaved sandbanks,
whereas those of the interior have been formed on the spot by the disintegration
of the gneiss rocks under the action of solar heat. The process of upheaval would
appear to be still going on along this section of the seaboard. To a height of 65
or 70 feet above the present sea-level occur saHnc tracts strewn •ft'ith shells which
resemble those still surviving in the neighbouring waters. At an elevation of
nearly 100 feet and at a distance of over half a mile inland there are even found
entire skeletons of cetaceans formerly stranded on the old beicch. On the raised

64 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

shore stretching north of Walvisch Bay arc seen masses of sulphur mingled with
sand and gypsum, and here the ground emits an odour of sulphuretted hydrogen.
To these noxious exhalations may probably be due the sudden destruction of the
fish m the bay, which has been recorded on several occasions, and especially in the
year 1883. At ebb tide observers have even noticed a kind of cratcr-liko
protuberances on the surface of the exposed beach.

Climate. — River Systems.

On the physical structure of the land partly depend its climatic Conditions.
The south and south-west winds, which are the most prevalent on this seaboard,
bring very few moisture-bearing clouds, while the opposing north-easterly gales
predominating in May, June, and July are even still less humid. Hence not
more than an average of five or six rainy days in the year can be relied upon
about the shores of "Walvisch Bay, and scarcely one or two on the more southerly
coast of Angra Pequena. To this and the night dews, at times very copious, is
reduced the so-called " rainy season," whose normal period coincides with the
beginning of the year, when the sun again moves northwards.

But if the low-lying seaboard thus lies in an almost rainless zone, the marine
currents discharge a more liberal supply on the uplands of the interior. As many
as seventeen wet days were recorded at Hope-mine in 1886, j-ielding a total
rainfall of neai'ly two inches. The rains are almost invariably heralded by whirl-
winds, by which the sand is raised and borne along in moving columns. To these
dust storms the Damaras give a name, which in their language means " Rain-
bearers." Thanks to this supply of moisture, the inland plateaux are covered with a
vast carpet of verdure, while lower down, at least south of the relatively well-
watered district of Kaoko, the whole land remains arid, or dotted over with a few
patches of thorny scrub, except in the rare oases fed bj' some intermittent
springs. Here domestic animals perish of hunger and thirst, exotics pine and
wither away, and the hardiest shrubs are reared with difficulty, the soil being
everywhere saturated with salt to a depth of ncarl}- two feet.

Thanks to the moisture precipitated on the higher summits, the upland valleys
are traversed by rivulets, which, however, nowhere unite in a common watercourse,
and which fail to reach the sea except during exceptionally wet seasons. The
torrents are in fact mere wadys, which serve as paths, and in which the wayfarer
sinks a few wells in the hope that a little water may collect in the depressions.
Their steep banks are fringed with shrubs, which draw the necessary moisture
from the saturated sands. But the gradual decay of vegetation along the course
of these torrents leads to the conclusion that the whole country is slowly becoming
drier. When any sudden freshet revives the sickly plants along the upland
brooks, the fresh sprouts soon wither again, the roots being unable to strike deep
enough in search of the vivifying stream. But in several parts of the neigh-
bouring plateaux, the Hereros have bored through the limestone rock down to the
underground reservoirs. In the Otavi hills north of this district one of these

TiJHSjSJ

TTTSvPiiFTrfii'

:f,

=-/^^. t..

THE SWAfiOP AND KHOSIB EIYEES. 65

reservoirs forms a veritable subterranean lake well stocked with fish and main-
taining itself always at the same level.

Of all the wadjs in this region, the most copious is the Omaruru, where the
stream lasts longer and the vegetation is less scattered than along the other
watercourses. The Omburo thermal spring rises in the sands of its upper course
at thi foot of some basalt rocks, and the rivulet flows for several miles as a
surface stream. But of all the local fluvial systems, the most wide-branching and
by far the longest is the Swakop, or Tsoakhub, whose course has a total length of
over 240 miles, exclusive of the lateral branches. Taking- its rise to the east of
the central Damara highlands, it traverses the plateau through deep rocky gorges,
and reaches the coast just north of Walvisch Bay. Lying about midway between
the Cunene and the Orange River, this transverse trough divides the whole terri-
tory into two nearly equal parts, Damaraland in the north and Great Namaqualand
in the south.

The Khosib or Kuisip, which intersects the Namieb plain to a depth of over
600 feet, also discharges, or rather formerly discharged, into Walvisch Bay,
through an abrupt bend, which is bordered eastwards by the long sandy penin-
sula of Pelican Point. During the twelve years preceding 1878 this wady is said
to have never once reached the coast. South of these two intermittent streams,
the otbjer watercourses are arrested east of the dunes without even forming chan-
nels as far as the sea.

Flora. — Fauna. — Natural Resources. — Colonial Prospects.
Consisting to a great extent of rocky uplands, hard clays, and moving sands,
the southern section of the new German colony can have no agricultural value for
its owners. Yet this was the first part to be annexed, and here were founded all
their early stations. South of the Swakop, the whole ground cleared and brought
under cultivation by the missionaries probably falls short of ten acres. But in
the northern districts, and especially in the Cunene valley, there stretch vast
plains resembling the Portuguese territories of HuUla and Humpata. Lying in
the same river basin and endowed with a similar fertile soil, they also enjoy
pretty much the same climate, except that the atmosphere is somewhat drier and
the rainfall less abundant. Nevertheless there is still sufficient moisture to stimu-
late the growth of large trees and even develop considerable forest tracts. Here
is still to be seen the gigantic baobab, while a few -palms are met even south of
the twentieth degrees of south latitude. The territory of the Ova-Mbos (Ovam-
boland), with its woodlands, glades, and clearings pres'ents in many places the
aspect of a boundless park, and here the natives support themselves mainly by
tilling the land and cultivating fruit trees. Here also European peasantry might
undoubtedly succeed, although their requirements greatly exceed the modest
wants of the natives, and some of the Transvaal Boers have already formed
settlements in the district. Some hundreds of these immigrants, the same who
AFRICA IV. f

06 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

later diroctetl Ihcir steps towards the Portuguese territory of Mossamedcs, had
founded a colony in the hilly Kaoko region. But here also, as in Ilunipata, they
occupied themselves less with tillage than with raising herds of cattle. Their
agricultural operations were confined to what was strictly needed for their annual
supply of corn.

Beyond the Cuncne district and some exceptionally favoui'cd valleys, stock-
breeding appears to be everywhere the local industry most rich in future promise.
Its broad grassy plateaux make the country essentially a grazing land. All wild
animals, except several species of antelopes, a few felidcc, jackals, and rodents,
have already been exterminated. Even the ostrich, which is farmed in the British
colonies farther south, is here eagerly hunted, and is no longer met in the neigh-
bourhood of the seaboard. Soms crocodiles are still met in the watercourses
communicating with the Cunene ; snakes, lizards, and locusts, are represented by
numerous species, and one of the local serj^ents is the deadly cu^ipcdeiro, or
"spitter" of the Angolan Portuguese, which attains a length of 25 or 26 feet,
and which the wizards had formerly acquired the art of charming, and intro-
ducing Into the houses of the sick.

The animals which are now bred on the upland pasture lands — horses, oxen,
sheep, and goats — were all originally introduced from Europe. It has often been
proposed to introduce the camel into the half desert regions of south-west i\irica ;
but the valuable breed of pack oxen already largely employed throughout the
southern states and colonics amply sufiBces for all the requirements of the trans-
port service, while the difference between the cost of their purchase and keep
renders their employment much more economical than would be that of the camel.
It is not so much its wealth of live stock that gives importance to this region in
the eyes of its new masters. Apart from the satisfaction of having secured
possession of a country which the English of the Cape were hankering after, they
place great hopes In the rich mineral resources still lying almost untouched in
the highlands running at a short distance from the coast. Rich copper ores
especially occur in many places on the plateau and even in the advanced sjjurs of
the mountains, and notwithstanding the difficulties of transport, mining operations
have already begun at several points. South of Angra Pequena silver ores have
also been found ; but from the reports lately made by the surveyors. It is to be
feared that the first hopes of the prosi)ectors may prove to be altogether fallacious.
At the same time, as soon as the countrj' is traversed by good roads, there can be
no doubt that it will acquire a certain importance for its mineral resources, which
cannot fail to attract capital and Industrious populations.

Meantime It may readily be Imagined that settlers have not hitherto been vci-y
numerous in a region where both water and arable land are deficient, and where
travellers run the risk of perishing from hunger and thirst. In many of the
Namaqua districts the explorer may travel for weeks together without meeting a
single group of cabins. But the popidation is naturally somewhat denser In the
northern territorj-, where the mountain ranges are more elevated, the slopes more
grassy, the fluvial beds not quite so destitute of running waters. Here every

THE OVAMBOS. 67

valley lias' its hamlet or, at least, a few shepherds' huts. But in 1898 the -whole
population was estimated at scarcely more than 200,000, including 2,030 whites.

Inhabitants. — The Ovambos and Hereros.

In rpspect of the origin of its inhabitants, the territory annexed by the
Germans is essentially a land of transition. All the southern division, no doubt,
belongs to the Khoin-Khoin, or Hottentot race ; but in the region lying north of
the highlands pierced by the channel of the Swakop river, the dominant Bantu
tribes are everjTvhere so intermingled with these full-blood or half-caste Hot-
tentots, that it becomes impossible to separate their respective domains by any
hard-and-fast line. Eoughly speaking, at least three-quarters of the whole land
may be assigned to the Hottentot tribes, which, nevertheless, constitute at most
one-fifth the entire population. Several groups, however, are of mixed origin,
while European blood is also represented by the half-caste Bastaards, as well as
by the Boers, the Portuguese Pombeiros, the English and German traders, who
regularly or occasionally visit this region.

The Bantu tribes, who occupy- the left bank of the Cunene above the gorges
through which this river escapes seawards, are generally designated by the
collective name of Ova-Mbo (Ovambo, Ovampo), originally applied to them by
their south-western neighbours, the Hereros. But they do not themselves recog-
nise this term, nor have they anj- generic designation for the nation as a whole.
They are ethnically related to the Chibiquas of the Chclla llomitains, and to the
peoples dwelling beyond the Cunene known as Ba-Simbas (Mu-Ximba), that is, to
say, "Borderers," or "Riverain People," and mentioned in old documents as
Cimbebas. Hence the name Cunbebasia, which is still aj^plied to the region
watered by the Cunene and even to the whole of Damaraland.

Most of these natives are tall, robust, very intelligent, and industrious. Their
language differs but little from that of the Hereros, and according to Duparquet
even shows a marked affinity to that of the Ba-Fyots. Its true position in the
Bantu linguistic family must soon be more accurately determined by the gram-
matical studies of the Finnish and other missionaries settled amongst them.

The Ovambo territory is shared between about a dozen tribes, who dwell
chiefly along the streams branching off from the Cunene towards Lake Etosha,
and who are all separated from each other by intervening border tracts of
uninhabited woodlands. Nearlj' always at war, these peoples, before the establish-
ment of the German administration, were constantly raiding on the cattle of their
neighbours. The young men, creeping by night stealthily through the inter-
vening forests, would try to seize the enemy's herds by surprise. If seen in tijne
they beat a hasty retreat, and a few days afterwards found themselves called upon
to repel similar attacks. To such tactics were limited most of the intertribal
conflicts ; but real wars of conqxiest also took place, and the political equilibrium
was often formerly disturbed amongst the Ovambo peoples.

68 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

Of all the tribes, estimated by Palgravc at nearly one hundred thousand and by
Duparquet as high as one hundred and twenty thousand souls, the most powerful is
that inhabiting the Kwanhama (Okwanyama, or " Land of Meat"), a term which
would appear to point at cannibalistic practices, which have disappeared from the pre-
sent inhabitants. But they still eat the flesh of dogs, which to some of their neigh-
bours seems scarcely less revolting. The Kwanhama district especially is rich in
horned cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and poultr\-, and the very name Ova-Mbo, or better,
Oba-Ambo, is said to mean " comfortable " or " well-to-do people." They constitute,
in fact, a true peasant population, carefully cultivating each his own plot and regu-
larly manuring the land. Slaves are numerous in the country, but there arcane poor.
The Kwanhama territory, which is bordered on the west bj' the Cunene above its
confluence with the Caculovar, stretches eastwards as far as the neighbourhood of
the Ku-Bango. It was formerly governed by an absolute king, who was required
to submit to a regular fattening process in order to become royally corpulent. He
was much dreaded by his subjects, and even in his dealings with the whites this
obese monarch betraj^ed a high sense of his personal importance, for he rarely
condescended to give a personal audience to the European traders visiting his
dominions. His troops were also well equipped with firearms. In this state, as
well as in the other Ovambo districts, it was customary for the heir to the crown
to be always designated during the lifetime of the rpigning sovereign, but the
" heir-apparent " was meantime kept in seclusion almost like a prisoner.

Xext to Kwanhama the most powerful Ovambo state was Ondonga, or Ndonga,
a term which, by some geographers, has been applied to the whole group of Ovambo
peoples. This kingdom, which had been visited by Galton, and after him by many
other travellers, was the southernmost of all these petty states, being situated along
the course of one of the streams near Lake Etosha. After suffering much from an
incursion of some Hottentot marauders, Ndonga has recovered its prosperity, and
thanks to the presence of an English factory and to the Finnish missionary
station, the Ondongas exercise the greatest influence iu slowly modifying the
rude habits of the people. The natives have here already developed a few indus-
tries, and amongst them are now found skilful potters, coppersmiths, blacksmiths,
and other craftsmen.

One of the smaller tribal groups, the southern Omblandus, called also " Tree
Men," because they take refuge in the trees against the attacks of the enemy, is
distinguished for its republican institutions, constituting a free political system of
which but few examples are offered by the Negro races. The last king ha\-ing
outraged the people by his despotic and arbitrary government, was crushed by
his own subjects beneath the roof of his residence, and the leaders of the revolt
declared that they would henceforth obey no more masters. They have kept their
word, and, although poor and few in number, they have hitherto succeeded in safe-
guarding their independence against the ambitious kinglets of the surrounding
lands. The Okafimas, one of the eastern tribes, have also contrived to defend
their liberties against the King of Kwanhama, always at the first signal of
Rttack retreating in a body within the lines of a fortified enclosure.

THE HEEEE03. 69

A few scattered groups of Bushmen, the Ma-Cuancallas of the Portug-uese
settlers, live in a state of bondage amongst the surrounding Bantu populations.
They are employed by the Ovambos as carriers of ivory and iron ores, and are also
frequently enlisted as soldiers. The whole region of the plains inhabited by the
Ovambos is intersected bj' excellent roads, which are accessible to the waggons
both of , the Europeans and natives, for these also highly appreciate the advantages
of wheeled traffic. When carts were first introduced they fell prostrate on the
ground, rubbing their foreheads in the dust raised by the passing wheels.

At the beginning of the year 1884 some fifteen families of Dutch trc/drrs
settled j^i the Ondongo district near a copious spring, the "Groot-Fontain," which
has its source to the east of the Etosha lagoon, founded a petty " republic," named
TJpingtonia, in honour of a prominent politician in Cape Colony. The new state
comprised, at least on the map, a superficial area of no less than 20,000 square
miles, divided into allotments of 60,000 acres, and immigrants were in^vited from
all quarters to come and occupy the land. But the violent death of their leader
and the troubles with the natives have obliged this group of Boers to place them-
selves under the protectorate of Germany.

The Hereros (Oba-Herero, the "cheerfiil" or "merry people"), who were
formerly called the " Lowland " or " Cattle Damaras," ave also a Bantu nation,
who reach southwards far into the Hottentot domain. According to their own
traditions, they exclusively inhabited the highland region of Kaoko down to the
middle of the eighteenth century ; but towards the year 1775, at a time when
water was more abundant in the country than at present, most of their tribes
migrated southwards. But a few remained behind in the Kaoko uplands, where
they intermingled with the Bushmen, and Hke them became impoverished. The
Herero language, now well known, thanks to the works of the English and German
missionaries, who are settled amongst them and have published grammars and
religious treatises, is a pure Bantu idiom. At least this is the case in the districts
where the Hereros keep aloof from other races, for in the neighbourhood of the
Hottentots hybrid dialects have sprung up in many places, in which the words of
both tongues are intermingled, and inflected either with Bantu prefixed or Hotten-
tot suffixed particles.

Since their exodus from the Kaoko country the Hereros have been frequently
in conflict with other peoples. They had first of all to fight the " true Damaras,"
the so-called " Highland Damaras," nearly all of whom they reduced to servitude.
Then, after the middle of the present century, they were exposed to the incursions
of the Namaqua Hottentots and of the Bastaards, bj^ whom thousands were
destroyed or reduced to slavery. Possessing no firearms with which to resist
their assailants, who were perfectly equipped and in constant commercial inter-
course with the Cape, the Hereros seemed doomed to destruction. Galton, who
visited this region in the year 1850, foresaw the day when the Namaquas, ■with
their scornfiJ hatred of the blacks and the characteristic obstinacy of their race,
must at last succeed in extirpating their hereditary foes. But the foreboding has
not been verified. More numerous and more agUe than their adversaries, the

SOUTH ANT) EAST AFEICA.

Heroros had, moreover, the good fortune to find a friend in the Swedish traveller
Andersson, who in consequence of a sanguinary collision found himself involved in
the fray. By his aid they at last gained the upjjcr hand, and although a war of
reprisals was protracted over many years, and has even broken out again in quite

Fig. 21. — Hebeeo L.iJJD.
Scalo 1 : 7,000,090.

l)ei>tlis.

0 to 1,000
Fathoms.

1,000 Fathoms
and upwards.

120 SlileB.

recent times, the respective domains of the two hostile races have been scarcely
modified since the middle of the present century.

At present ^& Herero territory stretches west of the Ovambos as far as the
coast, and southwards as far as the great central highlands traversed by the
Swakop. But the tribal frontiers are nowhere strictly defined The land
belongs to aU alike; Damara and Namaqua may encamp wherever they like, and
in the Herero language there is no word either for " frontier " or for " native

THE HEEEEOS. 71

land." The total number of the " Cattle Damaras " was estimated by Palgrave at
eighty-five thousand, and this estimate has been confirmed by the missionaries
stationed in their midst. The principal chief, who resides at Otyimbingue, rules
over thirty thousand subjects. They are easily counted, not individuallj' but in the
mass, by the herds they drive to the pasturage. Each chief knows the number of his
cattle, from which ho is able to deduce the number of the herdsmen and their
families. On an average three hundred persons are reckoned to the iccrff, or
encampment of cattle, with its secondary grazing giounds.

Physically the Ilereros rank amongst the finest races in Africa. They are
tall and "well-made, although in reality not nearly so strong as might be supposed
from their magnificent muscular development. With regular features of almost
classical form, they have an open cheerful expression, but are easily irritated, and
then they will often assume a ferocious look. Till recently those who had not
been brought under the influence of the missionaries went nearlj' naked. As
becomes a race of pastors, they dress almost exclusively in skins and leather :
thin strips, which if placed end to end would make a total length of perhaps
350 feet, hanging in thick fringes round their hips. They are also fond of iron,
zinc, or copper rings, armlets, and necklaces, and like most of the northern
Bantus they dispose the hair in tresses or ringlets stiffened with a mixture of fat
and red ochre. The women on their part bedizen themselves with trinkets of
all kinds, leather thongs, long hairpins, bracelets, shells, and glass beads,
crowning the edifice with a thick leather headdress, to which are added three high
ear-Hke attachments glistening with a coating of clay.

Although salt is usually supposed to be an indispensable condiment, the
contrary is proved by the diet of the Hcreros, who neither buy nor collect this
article from the coast lagoons ; nor do their cattle care to resort, as in other
places, to the saline " licking stones." Traces of old matriarchal usages stQI
survive amongst them. The wife is nearly free, and may separate at her pleasure.
The most solemn oath of a Herero is that " by the tears of his mother," and when
the mother died young it was formerly usual to bury her child with her. Except
the baptised children, all the Hereros are circumcised, but beyond this rite they
have scarcely any religious ceremonies except those performed for the purpose of
securing the prosperity of their herds. In all these ceremonies cow-dung plays a
part, and every speck and shade of colour on the animal's coat has in their eyes
a hidden meaning. The chief's daughter, guardian of the sacred fire, sprinkles
the cattle with lustral water, and when moving to a new camping-ground she
leads the way, holding a torch in her hand. Certain large forest-trees are
regarded by them as the ancestors of man, and several of these " mother trees "
are mentioned by Galton and Andersson, to which the Hcreros pay regular homage.

The nation was formerly divided into tribes, or rather castes {eanda), which
had probably their origin in the famil}^ group, and which were named from the
stars, the trees, and natural phenomena. Thus one caste was known as the
"Children of the Sun," another of the "Rain," and so on; but these distinctions
are gradually being effaced.

72 SOUTH AND EAST APRICA.

The chiefs, who in other respects enjoy very little personal authority, are hold
to bo owners of all the cattle. According as thcj' grow rich, the number of their
subjects increases with the increase of their herds, and as they become poor their
subjects melt away from around them. Thus the wealth of the chief constitutes
the only bond of the tribe, although the Ilcreros have full consciousness of their
common national origin. Ilenco the political divisions are subject to constant
change ; but what never change are the centres of population, the life of the tribe
over gravitating round about the watering-places of the herds. Like those of the
petty Ova-Mbo kings, the domains of the several Ilcrero rulers arc separated one
from the other by intervening tracts of scrub or rocks, neutral ground never
encroached upon by the conterminous tribes except in case of invasion. But these
dreaded border-lands form the camping-grounds of Hottentot or Bantu marauders,
ever on the watch to carry off straj' cattlo.

Amongst the Hereros is also found a cattleless proletariate class, men un-
attached to the fortunes of anj' rich owner of herds, and who live on the chase,
or lead a roaming adventuresome existence. Such arc the Ova-Tjimbas, kinsmen
of the Ba-Sinibas (Cimbebas), who camp for tho most part in the north-eastern
districts near the Ova-Mbos. On all points connected with the tenure of land,
the practices are essentially communistic. The soil is absolutely unalienable, and
the expulsion of tho Catholic missionaries in 1879 must bo attributed rather to
their imprudent propositions regarding the purchase of land, than to the jealousy
of their Protestant rivals. The Iloreros are in any case weU aware, from tho
example of Cape Colon}', that wherever the whites gain a footing, the natives
soon cease to rule the land. Nevertheless, with all their precautious, they caimot
escape tho fate in store for them. The Germans being henceforth their " protec-
tors," they will be unable to refuse acceptance of the new laws of property,
which have been framed to the profit of the stranger.

The IIill D^vm.\ras and Namaquas.

The Ova-Zorotus, or " Highland Damaras," are so-named by the Boers to
distinguish them from the " Damaras of tho Plains." They comprise all those
tribes which preserved their independence and took refuge on the summit of the
plateaux, especially the isolated table mountains surroimded on all sides by steep
escarpments. According to Galton these Damaras call themselves Hau Damop
("True Damaras"), or else Hau KhoTn, "True Khoin," that is to say, Hottentots.
But so far from belonging to this race, Galton regards them as akin to the Ova-
Mbos, whom they still resemble in their physical appearance and social usages,
although mucb deteriorated by misery and slavery. If most of them speak a
Hottentot dialect, the fact should perhaps be attributed to their isolation in tho
midst of riders of Khoin race. They now belong to other masters, thus fully
justifying the designation of Dama, which according to several writers has the
meaning of " Vanquished."

Of small size, weak and slender frame, and resembling the Bushmen, with whom

THE HILL DAMAEAS AND N.VMAQUAS.

"WALViscn Bat.
Scale 1 : 500,000.

in some places they are confounded, tlicy live by cultivating the land, which gives
them but poor returns for

their labour. Some of their Fig. 2:;

tribes are grouped roimd the
missions ; but the majority
are ensLjved to the stock-
breeders, squatting round
about the grazing grounds.
They are variously estimated
at from thirty thousand to
forty thousand souls ; but
on this point differences of
opinion necessarily prevail,
owing to the fact that many
tribes of doubtful origin are
regarded as belonging to
other races. The Hill Dama-
ras have the musical faculty
developed to an extraordi-
nary degree. They sing in
concert with well attuned
voice and in perfect harmony.
The Namaquas (Nama-
Kwa), that is, " Nama
People," occupy nearly all
the southern section of the
German Protectorate south
of the Tsoakhub and Kiusip
rivers. One of their divi-
sions, known as the " Little
Namaquas," is even sta-
tioned to the south of the
Lower Orange, and the terri-
tory inhabited by them has
become an integral part of
Cape Colonj% But all alike
are thinly scattered over a
vast waterless region, and
towards the middle of the
present century numbered
scarcely more than fifty
thousand altogether, a feeble

remnant of the many himdred thousand Naraas who are said to have formerly
lived in South Africa. According to Palgrave, they are now reduced to about

DepUis-

0to32
Feet.

32 to SO
Feet.

60 to 160
Feet.

160 Feet and
opvatdii.

12Maes.

74 SOUTH AND ILL=;T AFRICA.

twenty tTioiisnnd, of whom nearly seventeen thousr.nd are Great Namaquas, and
the rest Little Namaquas.

The Namas are certainly Hottentots, and were at one time regarded as the
purest representatives of that race. Those known as the " Red Nation," that is,
the Geikus of the hilly region lying to the south-east of Walvisch Bay, are Khoin,
or Hottentots, in a pre-eminent sense, and claim to have been the first conquerors
of this district, where they number about two thousand five hundred. The so-
called Topnaars, that is, " Highest," or " First," who are centred for the most part
in the British enclave round about Walvisch Bay, are at present in a verv degraded
state, being regarded as the most debased of all the Namaquas. Others again,
and notably the Oerlams, whose original name of Orang Lami, or " Old Acquaint-
ance," is said to have been given them by the sailors visiting them from the Cape,
are of more or less mixed descent, a strain of European blood having even been
detected in them. All arc herdsmen and warriors, who during the course of tlie
present century have fought manj'' a desperate battle with the Hereros. Dwelling
in semicircular huts made of bark and foliage, they practise onlj' such rudimentary
industries as are suitable to their primitive manner of life. They cut up and
dress the hides of their cattle, sharpen and mount smallarms, and make wooden
bowls for holding milk and spring-water.

Constantly moving about in search of good pasturage, the Great Namaquas
are grouped in separate clans, each with its own chief and council of twelve elders.
The more illustrious his lineage and the more brilliant his warlike deeds, the
greater is the personal authority of the tribal chief. But these kinglets, having
become nominal Christians, are gradually losing their influence over their subjects,
especially since their territory has been surrounded by the Cape Colonists and the
Boers from the east, and since their upland valleys are regularly visited by the
wholesale dealers to buy up their live-stock, and by the German miners to
" prospect " their country for mineral ores. Tho}^ are no longer dreaded for the
number of their armed warriors, but respected only in proportion to their wealth
in cattle.

The race itself seems doomed to extinction, being too feeble to resist the
elements of disintegration by which it is surrounded. The Little Namaquas no
longer speak Hottentot ; the missionaries established among the Great Namaquas
no longer require to learn this language, which since the year LS82 has ceased to
be the vehicle of religious instruction. It is no longer necessary to print books
of devotion in an idiom which will soon be understood by nobody, and which has
already been replaced by Dutch, one of the channels through which civilisation
is beiug diffused throughout South Africa. Nama, which is one of the purest
forms of Hottentot, is thus disappearing like other branches of the same linguistic
family, of which nothing now survives, except the names of mountains and rivers,
nearl}- all in more or less corrupt form. The fragments of the Nama tribes scattered
over the eastern plains are becoming gradually merged with the despised Bushmen.

W.U.VISCH BAY. -^S

-J

TOPOGEAPHT.

Hitherto the northern seition of the coast between the Cunene and Walvisch
Bay has not possessed a single seaport visited by shipping. The Angra Fria
("Cold Bay "), lying north of the sandy promontory of Cabo Frio (" Cold Point")
is inere\)' a little creek offering no kind of shelter against the surf and the
prevailing south-west winds. Some 120 miles farther on the Ogden coral reefs
enclose a fine harbour and tranquil sheet of water, where fish disport themselves
in myriads. But the neighbouring coast is uninhabited, and this well-sheltered
haven attracts no trafiic.

At present the only outlet of the Whole region of Damara and Namaqualand
is the commodious and spacious inlet of Walvisch Bay, which lies almost exactly
midway between the Cunene and Orange estuaries, and which gives access to the
two chief fluvial basins of the country, the Tsoakhub and the Kuisip. A channel
24 feet deep gives easy access to large vessels, which can ride at anchor in 26 or
28 feet of water within a few cables of the coast. Here they are completely
sheltered except against the north and north-west winds, which seldom blow on
this part of the coast. The bay, which owec> its name to the numerous schools of
whales formerly abounding in the neighbouring waters, is still visited by these
cetaceans, and also teems with other marine animals, vast shoals of fish penetrating
with the tides far up the creeks, where they are sometimes left in the shallow
lagoons by the receding waters.

At one time a large export trade in ivory and ostrich feathers was carried on
at this port, which has long been regularly visited by traders from the Cape to
procure live-stock for the southern markets. The Colonial Government had
accordingly taken steps at an early date to secure possession of this ^-ital jwint on
the Damara-Namaqua seaboard, so that when they annexed this region the
Germans were obliged to respect the little British enclave, which has a total area
of about 430 square miles. But the English, on their part, fearing the local
trafiic might be diverted by the new arrivals to some other point of the coast,
hastened to declare Walvisch Bay a free port for all exports and imports from
Europe and the colonies.

The chief inland stations which arc thus supplied with manufactured goods
through Walvisch Bay are : Omanini, which has been converted into the principal
market of the Herero people; Otyimbingue, on the Tsoakhub; OkaJiaiija and
Otijil-angn, or New Barmen, higher up on the same watercourse ; Rebohoth, on a tribu-
tary of the Kuisip, and Great WimUweh, which lies 180 miles inland from Walvisch
Bay, and is now the seat of the German administration.

Were the British Government at any time to obstruct the trade of Walvisch
Bay, the Germans have still in the immediate neighbourhood the port of Sandwich
Haven {Porto do Ilheo), which might be constituted the centre of their commercial
operations in their new dependency. Although less capacious than Walvisch
Bay, and also exposed to the danger of silting up, this creek has the advantage
of being sheltered from all winds and of possessing a supply of fresh water stored

SOtrril AND E.VST APEICA.

in Iho neighbouring riverain sands. A superabundance can be had by simply
sinking a few shallow wells in these sands, whereas the nearest springs to
Walvisch Bay are 34 miles distant, so that it is found more convenient to supply

Fig. 23.— A>-OEA Peuiteua.
Scale 1 : CIS.OOO.

Ejstof Creeow^ch 1^'

l5°so'

0 to :r2
Feet.

32 to HJ

Feet.

Depths.

m to 160
Feet.

160 to 320
Feet.

320 Feet nnd
upwards.

. 12 Miles.

this place by sea from 1_hc Cape. The little Hottentot hamlet of Anishah gives a
little animation to the otherwise dreary shores of Sandwich Haven.

The only important inlet on the coast of Great Namaqualand isAngm Pcquena,
the acquisition of which by the trader Liidcritz was the first step that induced the
Germans to treat with England for the possession of the whole region, some
320,000 square miles in extent, stretching from the Cuncne to tlic Orange River.
Despite its name, which in Portuguese means " Little Bay," Angra Pequena is

iiiiiiiiii,

IKITIlfl

iiiiii!iii:aiiiiii!:i£;ii:L:i!

Eia

angua pequena. 77

something more than a mere indentation on the coast, for it ramifies to the right
and left for about 5 miles south of the entrance. It is accessible to the largest
vessels, having a depth of from 40 to 50 feet, with excellent anchorage well-
sheltered from the surf and from all winds except those of the north. Its great
defect, like that of Walvisch Baj-, is the absence of good water, although an
intermittent watercourse, dignified with the name of the " Little Orange River,"
occasionally reaches the bay. Hence the place wiU have to be supplied from the
Cape, until its increasing importance justifies the sinking of wells and formation
of reservoir?, on the coast in order to capture all the water oozing from the
surrounding dunes. Hitherto Angra Pequena has not answered the anticipations
of its owners as a trading station. In fact its only articles of export are some
cattle, fish, and mineral ores, so that it is not, perhaps, surprising that the place
was for some time completely abandoned by the German traders.

In the neighbourhood are the two valuable guano islands of Icliahoe, lying
north-west of the bay within a mile of the coast, and Halifax near the peninsula skirt-
ing the west side of the harbour. These, with a few other islets. Lave long been
regarded as dependencies of Cape Colony, and the woi'king of the guano deposits
is secured to British traders. Here are captured, in the months of October and
November, mj-riads of penguins, cormorants, and other waterfowl ; but the original
stores of guano, Ij'ing several yards thick on the rocks, had been comjjletely
exhausted by the speculators towards the middle of the present century. Since
then the trade has been regulated ; during the breeding season all trespassers are
warned off, and the islands left in the peaceful possession of the birds, after which
the gangs of workmen are admitted to collect the manure, which in the year 1884
•was shipped to the total value of £20,000.

In these waters numerous hands are also engaged in the capture of seals,
multitudes of which animals frequent all the surrounding islets and reefs. On
the shores of Possession Island, which lies in Elizabeth Bay, to the south of Angra
Pequena, the navigator IMorell found the carcases of cetaceans in such prodigious
quantities that he estimated them at upwards of one million. His theorj^ was
that the vast school had been suddenly overtaken and swallowed up by some
tremendous whirlwind of sand.

In the interior of Namaqualand the largest centres of population consist
merely of a few dozen huts, and most of these villages are only temporary settle-
ments. The chief stations are those of the missionaries, such as Nishctt's Bath
( Warmhad) on a wady flowing to the Orange, and Bethany, in the hilly district
stretching eastwards from Angra Pequena.

Speaking generally, German South-West Africa must be considered an almost
total failure in colonial enterprise. Its mineral resources have been exao-ferated •
the conditions are unfavourable for agriculture ; and the only possible industry
appears to be stock-breeding, which is mainly confined to Damaraland, where the
natives own numerous herds of horned cattle. Hence there is little to attract and
much to repel European settlers, while the administration continues to be a heavy
burden to the Imperial exchequer, the Budget showing a deficit in 1899 of nearly
£100,000.

CHAPTER III.

SOUTH AFRICA.

PHYSICAL FEATURES OF TIIK OKANGE, LIMPOro, AND OTHER BASINS.

Genkral Survey.

TIE modern era has been uslicred in by tlireo great geograpliical
events — the discovery of the highway to the cast by the Austral
seas, the arrival of the caravels of Columbus in the New World,
and the circumnavigation of the globe bj' Magellan. Of these
epoch-making events in the history of our planet, the first in order
of time was that which was accomplished when in I486 Bartholomew Diaz success-
fully doubled the stormy headland which thenceforth took the name of the Cape
of Good Hope. A few years later the " good hope " was fully realised when
Vasco de Gama reached the East Indies by this route, when the western and
eastern seas were merged in a common oceanic basin, and man learnt to compass
the earth, which till then had seemed to him a boundless universe.

But the shores that the first Portuguese ships had skirted in order to pass from
the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean long remained neglected bj' geographical
explorers. Attracted by the wealth of both Indias, the early navigators scorned
to linger on a seaboard which held out no prospects of a rapid fortune by trade
or plunder. Over a hundred and fifty years passed away before any Europeans
landed on this part of the African continent Mith the intention of remaining and
founding agricultural settlements. At the same time it is useless for certain
Portuguese writers to express idle regrets that this region was neglected by their
forefathers of the heroic age. These were far too few to embrace the whole
world, to simidtaneously imdertake the conquest of the Indian, Malayan, and
American Eldorados, and the slow development of the arable lands in South ^Vfrica
between the Congo and Zambese.

Nevertheless the settlers in these Austral regions were destined to find much
more than they could ever hope to obtain from the mines of Golconda and the
spices of the Eastern Archipelago. The land which they occupied is a second

SOUTH AFEICA AND ^UI^GEIIIA CONTEASTED. 79

Europe, oilering a climate differing little from that of the mother country, a soil
on which they can cultivate the same plants and graze the same herds, and
preserve the same habits and customs in another hemisphere many thousands of
miles distant from their native land. No doubt the population of European
origin developed very slowly in their new environment ; nevertheless the expan-
sion was sufficient to enable them gradually to spread over the land. Aided by a
regular stream of immigration, they steadily encroached from all directions on the
domain of thevaboriginal inhabitants, and they now rule supreme throughout the
whole of the //ustral regions from the Cape to Tanganyika.

As a centre of colonisation and of higher culture, the European colonj' of the
Cape, with its natural dependencies of Natal and the Dutch repubhcs, already
exercises an independent influence, apart altogether from the support it derives
from its relations with the metropolis. The Cape is the natural centre for the
organisation and equipment of expeditions for the exploration of the whole of
South Africa. The capital, almost as much as Europe itself, has given the first
impulse to the scientific labours and industrial development of the surrounding
regions ; jointly with the neighbouring districts and all the conterminous maritime
zone, it forms, as it were, a detached section of Europe, gradually enlarging its
borders and supplanting northwards the primitive African world.

Cape Colony has often been compared to Algeria, which is situate exactly at
the other 'extremity of the continent, and which has also become an outlying
portion of Europe in its industries, its social and political life. In some respects
the advantage still lies with Algeria, which, with a far less extensive area, is more
thickly peopled, both relatively and absolutelj', although the white element con-
tinues to be about the same in both regions. Algeria also receives a larger
annual contribution of immigrants from Europe, and, despite the absence of great
mineral wealth, its foreign exchanges were a few years ago greatly in excess of
those of the South Aii-ican States and Colonies. All this was easily explained by
the greatly superior geographical position of Algeria, which is essentially a
Mediterranean land, Ipng over against France, Spain, and Italy, and within a
few hours' sail of several of the great South European seaports. But Algeria
labours under the disadvantage of being cut off from the rest of the continent by
the almost trackless Saharan wastes. British South Africa, on the contrary, has
already surmounted the obstacle presented to its inland expansion by the smaller
and less arid Kalahari Desert, which Is now traversed by a railway reaching from
Capetown nearly to the Zambcsc.* Improved steam navigation has also brought
the Cape within little over a fortnight's sail of England, while the high plateaux

* Comparative growth of Algeria and South Africa, without Rhodesia :>—

Algeria. South Africa.

1882.

1898.

1882.

ISSS.

"■

Area . . 184,000 sq.
Whites . . 500,000
Aborigines . 3,320,000
Pop. to sq. mile . 16
Sea-borne trade £22,000,000

miles.

192,000 sq.

764,000

3,606,000

£23,000,000

miles

450,000 sq.

480,000

. 2,650,000

£11,000,000

miles,

480,000 sq.

765,000

. 3,000,000

£45,000,000

miles.

SO urn AND EAST AFRICA.

between the Orange River and Tanganyika arc found to be in man)- places suit-
able for European setllenieut, and moreover possess almost inexhaustible deposits

Fig. 24. — Soorn-WEST Afmcan Highlands.

Scale 1 ; 3,260,000.

ctoieo

Feet.

Depths.

160 In rao
FeeL

S2 Mo U40
Feet.

610 Feet und
upwards.

eoltiles.

of diamonds, coal, iron, gold, and otber minerals. TTenco the advantage now
lies mainly with South Africa, the indefinite expansion of which can be arrested
only by political convulsiona.

AFRICA.

BHOWING EUROPEAN ANNEXATIONS AND CLAIMS.

L'.Blue . Italian

Purple , German

Grey , &>anish

Green , .. ftriuguese

White . . Independents

{

MOUNTAINS OF SOUTH Al'BICA. 81

Physical Features of South Africa.

The orographj' of the Austral regions I'esembles in its more salient features that
of the wjlole continent, in which the chief mountain ranges are disposed not in the
interior but round the seaboard, usually attaining their greatest elevation in the
vicinity of thy east coast. In the same waj^ in the southern section of the main-
land the Irfxtiest chains and eminences are developed parallel with and at no great
distance from the seaboard, everj-where skirting the boundless open or undulating
plains of the interior. Here also the orographic system culminates on the east side,
where the loftiest crests rise to an altitude of considerably over 11,000 feet.

The outer scarps of the highlands and plateaux running parallel with the
coast in Great Namaqualand are completely interrupted by the rocky valley of
the Lower Orange River. South of this point the system is continued throughout
the territory of the Little Namaquas, without, however, attaining the same eleva-
tion rs in the northern region. The land rises from terrace to terrace towards
the crest of the granitic plateau, over which are scattered irregular mountain
masses, which present an imposing aspect when seen from the west, where the
precipitous slopes come fully into view. But the effect is somewhat insignificant
on the opposite or landward side, where their base is merged in the monotonous
plateau of gneiss formation known as Great Bushmanland. The mean altitude
of the whole range scarcely falls much below 3,500 feet

South of the Namaqua region the main range, deeply furrowed by erosion,
breaks into a nimiber of diverging ridges, some of which branch o£E towards the
eastern highlands, while others are continued in parallel chains southwards.
Each rand, or crest, forms a sort of rocky barrier between the plains of the seaboard
and the upland steppes of the interior. South of the Olifant Eiver these ramparts
attain their greatest altitude, the Cedar Mountains culminating in the Sneeuw-Kop
(6,100 feet), while the Olifant range rises in the Winter-hoek to a height of 6,900
feet. For a few days during the cold season this peak is visible on the north-east
horizon from Capetown, streaked with white and occasionally even completely
wrapped in a snowy mantle.

The Olifant Eange with its southern extension terminates in the Hang-Klip
headland, which stands over against the Cape of Good Hope. The Cape itself,
which projects more to the west in the form of a sickle, belongs to a coast range,
of which only a few fragments survive, and which advances beyond the normal
coast line between St. Helena Bay and False or Simon's ^Bay. At its northern
extremity this range consists merely of a few disconnected hills ; but towards the
south it rises rapidly to a considerable elevation, enclosing Table Bay with a
semicircular rampart of bold rocky summits. Here the imposing "Table" Moun-
tain lifts its huge and often cloud-capped sandstone crest to a height of 3,500 feet
above its nearly vertical or rapidly sloping walls. The granite base of this mighty

AFRICA IV. .'/

SOUTU AND EAST AFRICA.

Fig. 25. — Capb Aoulhas.

Scali" 1 : 100. non

isolated mass is clothed with, verdure, while its flanks are scored with deep ravines
shaded by the sombre pine and wide-branching oak. The semicircular range of
hills terminates eastwards in a sharp point known as the Devil's Peak, and west-
wards in the long sloping ridge of the " Lion," with his back tiirned towards

Capetown and his magni-
ficent head facing seawards.
Beyond Table Mountain the
hills fall gra lually south-
wards down tL the famous
headland of the Cape of
Good Hope.

East of the parallel
mountain ranges, which run
north and south in the
vicinity of the Atlantic sea-
board, the folds and wrinkles
of the land, resembling the
gatherings round the hem
of a garment, are disposed
in the direction from west to
east nearly parallel with the
shores of the Southern Ocean.
Nevertheless it is e\-ident
from the lie of the land
that all these border ranges
run somewhat obliquely to
the coast, for they all termi-
nate in the sharp pro-
montories, which follow in
succession to the east of
Cape Agulhas, or the
" Needles," terminal point
of the African mainland.
They formerlj^ extended
continuously from west to
east, but are now broken
into fragments of varjong
size by numerous torrents,
which rising in the interior have forced their way seawards at the weaker points
of the old formations.

The deep rapines and transverse gorges thus excavated by the running waters
between the parallel coast ranges impart to this region an extremely varied aspect,
especially in the neighbourhood of the sea, where the slopes are mostly overgrown
with a forest vegetation. Of the mountain barriers thus intersected at various

19° 56

eo"5

nto64
Feet.

Depths.

64 to 160
Feet.

160 Feet .ind
upwards.

(i Mik-.

z
o

o
m

THE KAREOOS. 83

points by the coast streams the loftiest is the Groote Zwarte Bergen (" Great
Black Mountains ") which lies farthest inland, and some of whose summits exceed
7,000 feet. Towards its eastern extremity the Cockscomb (Groot Winter-hoek)
rises to an altitude of 6,000 feet above the north-west side of Algoa Bay.

North of this outer orographic system of parallel chains crowded together along
the seaboard, there is developed at a mean distance of over 120 miles from the
coast another much loftier range, which also trends in the normal direction from
west to east, aid whose sinuous windings are distinguished by different designa-
tions. At it*; western extremity near the Atlantic Coast Range it takes the name
of Koms-berg, which farther on is successively replaced by the Roggeveld and
Nieuweveld, where the term reld indicates softer outlines and more roimded contours
than those of the steeper escarpments denoted by the berg. Still farther east the
main range seems almost to merge in the surrounding upland plains ; but it soon
rises again to a great height in the Sneeuw-bergen ("Snowy Mountains "), who.se
loftiest peak, the Compass (9,000 feet), is the culminating point in the Cape
region properly so called.

Beyond this central nucleus the system bifurcates, the south-eastern branch,
which is interrupted by an affluent of the Great Fish River, attaining in the
Groot Winter-berg an altitude of 7,800 feet. This branch terminates at the
mouth of the Great Kei River, western limit of Kafirland, while the second
ramification, forming the divide between the Orange and Great Fish River basins,
trends first northwards, then towards the east, where it merges in the lofty range
separating Kafirland and Natal from Basutoland. Its eastern extremity, known by
the name of the Storm-bergen (" Storm Mountains "), is distinguished in the economic
history of the Cape for its extensive carboniferous deposits. The thin and some-
what schistose coalfields of the Storm-bergen occur chiefly on the northern slopes
of the range, and stretch far in the direction of the north ; but owing to the cost
of extraction and difiiculty of transport, the mines were little worked before the
development of the South African railway system. Old volcanoes, with perfectly
distinct craters, which seem to have become extinct since the triassic epoch, are
still visible in the Storm-bergen Mountains.

The undulating plain dotted over with patches of scrub, which stretches east
and west, between the parallel coast ranges and the great northern water-parting
of the Roggeveld and Nieuweveld, is known by the name of the Great Karroo, a
Hottentot word meaning arid land. Farther north in the direction of the Orange
River extend other elevated plains interrupted here and there by small mountain
masses, which consist for the most part of eruptive rocks, such as trapps and dolcr-
ites, forming natural colonnades often of a monumental aspect. These upland plains
are also karroos, throughout their whole extent presenting everywhere the same
geological constitution. They were formerly covered by vast stretches of marshy
waters frequented by myriads of vertebrate reptiles, dicynodonts and other varieties,
which are unlike any others found on the globe, and which probably became extinct
before the close of the triassic period. According to Sir Richard Owen, these
huge saurians were herbivorous, and appear to have been of amphibious habits.

i> 2

84 SOUTH AND E.VST AFRICA.

In the Great Karroo, as well as in the secondary formations of similar character
stretching northwards to the Orange River, are scattered numerous depressions
where arc lodged the rain waters, which after evaporation leave the ground
covered with saline efflorescences.

The Drakexberg.

Beyond the Storm-Bergen the main range trends round in thb direction of
the north-east, describing a great bend concentric with that of the oceanic coast-
line. Here the Kwathlamba, or Drakenbergen ("Dragon Mountains"), run at a
moan distance of about 1'20 miles from the sea, rising in some of its peaks and
summits to an altitude of over 10,000 feet. Although still forming a true water-
parting between the Atlantic and Indian Ocean, these highlands present the
aspect of a mountain range only on their east side, where they fall through a series
of stops precipitously seawards. On the west side facing inland the chain is
merely the scarp of a plateau, which is intersected by other parallel ridges.

The intermediate space between the Drakenbcrg and the Indian Ocean is
occupied by three steps or terraces, which, however, present great inequalities in
their general relief, and which in several places are obstructed by transverse
ridges following the course of the fluvial valleys. The most elevated of these
terraces, which stretches along the base of the Drakenberg, has a mean altitude
of considerably over 3,000 feet ; the central terrace, forming the middle zone of
Kafirland and Nutal, varies from 2,000 to 2,400 feet, while the outer or coast
step, cut by the beds of innumerable torrents into a multitude of fragments,
scarcely rises more than 1,000 feet above the winding seaboard.

North of a summit crowned by vertical sandstone formations presenting the
aspect of a ruined fortress, whence its name of the Giant's Castle (9,800 feet),
the triple system of the Drakenberg gradually falls to a lower level. Here the
greatest elevation is maintained by a parallel chain of heights which traverses
the Basuto territory mider the name of the Blaw Bergen ("Blue Mountains"), or
Maluti, that is, " Peaks," in the language of the natives. Farther north the
system resumes the name of the Drakenbergen, and here these highlands,
although composed of sandstones like the " tables " of most other ranges in
South Africa, nevertheless terminate in jagged crests. The Drakenberg is con-
nected with the Maluti Mountains by a lateral ridge, whose chief summit, the
Champagne Castle, or Cathldn, attains a height of 10,500 feet. On this con-
necting link rises a vast plateau-shaped (eminence which is covered ^^'ith pasturage,
and which by the Basutos is called the Buta-Buta or Potong, that is, " Antelope
Mountain." But it is more commonly known by the name of the "Mountain
of Sources," given to it by the Protestant missionaries Arbousset and Daumas,
because here have their source the main headstreams of the Orange, besides
several other rivers flowing in the opposite direction down to the Indian Ocean.
It rises about 1,300 feet above the sui-rounding uplands, and according to Stow
has an absolute altitude of 10,100 feet. Nevertheless it is overtopped by the

THE DRAKENBEEG.

chief summits of the lateral chain of the Maluti highlands, on which the snow
remains for the four Austral winter months from May to August. This is the
true Alpine region of South Africa. One of its peaks, to which the missionary
Jacottet has given the name of Mount Hamilton, has an extreme altitude of
11,600 feet, while the gorge through which the Basutos descend from the upper
Orange Valley to that of its great affluent, the Senkunyane, is scarcely 200 feet
lower.

Farther en in the direction of the north-east, the range known as the Rand-
herg, that is, the " Border Range," but to which is also extended the name of the
Drakenberg, as if still forming part of the southern system, assumes the character
of an enormous rocky cliff. On the inner side it faces the undulating upland

Fig. 26. — Relief of South Afkica.

Seair I : R.flfin.dOO.

H'--"Tits.

0 to 1. til 10
Feet.

I,fi00 to 3,200
Feet.

3,200 to 6,400
Feet.

f.,400 to 9,6
Feet.

9, (Ml Feet and
upwards.

12 Wiles.

plain forming part of the continental plateau ; on the outer it develops a long
line of abrupt escarpments skirting the lower plains, which have been greatly
denuded and the debris borne seawards by the torrential coast-streams. Although
mainly parallel with the shores of the Indian Ocean, this Border Range has been
carved by the rimning waters into a very irregular rocky 'barrier. Excavated in
the shape of a cirque in one place, it projects elsewhere in the form of headlands,
one of which is the Kaap (Cape), famous for its rich auriferous deposits. The
work of erosion carried on for ages by the rivers has caused the barrier itself
gradually to recede westwards, being continually eaten away bj- the affluents of
the Indian Ocean.

Farther north the slope of the plateau falls imperceptibly in the direction of

86 SOUTU AND E.^T .yt'EICA.

(

the Limpopo. In this northern section of the Border Range the last crest which
exceeds 7,000 feet is the Mauchberg (7,800), so named from the explorer who
discovered the goldfields of this region. Nevertheless the Zoutpansbergeu, or
" Saline Mountains," at the northern extremity of the whole system, still present
an imposing aspect, thanks to the precipitous slope of their escarpments down to
the valley of the Limpopo. Towards the south-west some disconnected' ranges of
hills and scattered heights serve to break the monotony of the upland plains, <
which descend with a gentle incline towards the less elevated depression of the
Kalahari Desert. But these eminences produce little effect, o\ving to the great
relative altitude of the surrounding plateau. They culminate in the Magalies-
bergeu, near Pretoria, capital of the South- African llepublic (Transvaal) .

Geological Formations.

Throughout the whole of Austral Africa, comprising Cape Colony, Kafirland,
Natal, the Basuto, Zulu, and Dutch territories, the general geological substratum
is constituted by granitic rocks, which underlie all the other formations of this
region. By their incessant erosive action the running waters have everywhere
exposed the lower granitic foundation and the sedimentary strata deposited on
the primitive crystalline rocks. As remarked by Livingstone, the grffnite back-
bone is concealed, but it here and there breaks through the skin. The granite is
itself traversed in all directions by veins of a very pure white quartz, which are
almost everjTvhere associated with auriferous deposits. But excejjt in some rare
districts these deposits are not sufficiently abundant to render mining operations
remunerative. Throughout the whole of the coastlands the underlpng granite
is covered by crystallised limestones, while in the interior the granite is overlain
chiefly by carboniferous series and Devonian formations with their crown of sand-
stone rocks.

Some geologists point to heaps of displaced and striated boulders, as clear
indications of a former glacial period on the eastern slopes of the Drakenberg.
Most observers also accept the view that the seaboard is at present undergoing a
process of slow upheaval. From the Cape of Good Hope all the way to the coast
of Natal maj^ be seen old tracings of raised beaches still covered with banks of
marine shells, oysters, and polj-ps. Near the south frontier of Natal these
elevated banks stand nearly fourteen feet above the present level of the highest
spring tides.*

Rivers — The Orange.

The great watercourse of Austral Africa, and one of the most considerable in
the whole Continent, if not for its volume, at least for the length of its course
and the extent of its basin, is the Gariep of the Hottentots, the Groote-rivier
(" Great River ") of the Boers. In the j'ear 1770 it received from Gordon, an
officer in the Dutch ser^•ice, the name of Orange, more in honour of the ro\al

* Grieabach, Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, May, 1871.

THE OEANGE EIVER.

house than from the colour of its waters. The Senku, or chief eastern head-
stream, is regarded as its true upper course, although exceeded in length b}' the
Vaal. It has its source in an upland valley on the southern slope of the Cathkin,
and flows at first in a south-westerlj' direction between the Maluti and Draken-
berg highlands. In this part of its course it rolls down a dark stream, whence
its locri name of the " Black River." After its junction with the Senkunyane,
or Little Senku, it is again swollen by the Malitsunyane, which descends from
the western' uplands, and which at one point plimges from a vertical height of
600 feet iuto a tremendous mountain gorge.

After escaping from these romantic Maluti highlands, the Orange mingles its
waters with the united stream of the Caledon and the Komet-spruit, which
nearly double its volxmie, and both of which flow from the grassy Potong uplands
through broad beds of sparkling mica sands. Below the confluence, the Orange,
which from this point flows mainly in a north-westerly and westerly course, is
joined by a few streams or rather wadys from the Cape highlands, the chief of

Fig. 2".— The Obasge Falls.
Scale 1 : 270,000

20 = 2;

2C = 5s

6 MUes.

which is the Hartebeest, whose upper course rising in the Sneeuw-bergen, is
known as the Zak or Zeku. But aU these contributions scarcely suffice to repair
the loss caused by evaporation.

The only important affluent of the Middle Orange is the Vaal, or " Gray,"
one of whose upper branches, the Xamagari, has its source, like the Caledon, on
the Potong plateau. But its farthest headstream takes its rise on the uplands
which skirt the seaboard of the Indian Ocean to the south of Louren^o Marques.
Were the question to be decided by the length of their several courses, of all these
affluents the Vaal would have to be regarded as the true mainstream. But its
valley to a great extent traverses arid plains or dried-up lacustrine beds
belonging to a former geological epoch ; hence it sends down very little water,
usually reaching the confluence in an almost exhausted state. But like the
other rivers of this basin it is subject to sudden freshets, several of which occur
between the end of Xovember and the middle of April, and while they last the
Vaal is transformed to a formidable watercourse. Both the Orange, Caledon,
and Vaal mav generallv be forded ; but during the floods thev can be crossed

88 SOUTU AND EAST .IFRICA.

only on rafts, except at the points where modern hridges and viaducts have heen
constructed.

For about three-quarters of its whole course the Orange traverses the granitic
plateau at a normal altitude of about 2,600 feet above sea-level. But its channel
is suddenly lowered by over 400 feet through a series of cascades and lapidf
known as the Anghrabios Cataracts or the " Hundred Falls," which occul a short
distance below the Hartebecst confluence. For 'a space of about 16 miles the
stream is here obstructed by innumerable reefs, ledges, islets, and even islands,
some with low and smooth rocky surface, others bristling with sharp crags often
affecting the form of towers or pinnacles. During the season of low water the
stream ramifies into a labyrinth of torrents, lakes, pools, or silvery threads, all of
which winding from circuit to circuit xdtimately converge in the narrow and deep
gorge below the falls. Some of these branches go to swell the volume of the
great cascade with which the series terminates, while others develop independent
falls of their own, timibling over some lateral rocky bed in mimic rivalry with
the main body of angrj' waters. " On every side," remarks G. A. Farini, " fresh
cascades sprang out as if by magic from the rocks. In fact, whether at high
water or at low water, one of the peculiar charms of the place is the extraordinary
number of distinct waterfalls which exist here. At Niagara there are two
gigantic cataracts falling side by side at one bound into the head of iH, gorge
seven miles in length. Here there is a succession of cascades and falls — probably
a hundred in nixmber — extending along the whole length of a gorge no less than
l(i miles long, into which they plunge one after the other, sometimes at a
single bound, sometimes in a series of leaps. During the drj' weather many of
these cataracts are of great volume, but at wet seasons, when they are magnified
a hundredfold, their mass must be immense. At Niagara the gorge is nowhere
deeper than 200 feet, here the chasm is half as deep again." *

This explorer counted and named nearly a hundred distinct cascades, from
which fact he named the whole series the " Hundred Falls." To the last of the
series he gave the name of the " Diamond Falls," having picked up half a dozen
diamonds in some sand between the rocks at the foot of the gorge.

Below the Hundred Falls the Orange is joined on its right bank, if not by a
running stream, at least by a ramifying wadj', which in the extent of its basin
exceeds the Vaal itself. This is the Hygap, which is formed by the Uli and the
Nosob, or the " Twins," so called because their parallel beds frequently converge
in a single channel, by the Molopo, the Kuramen, and other fluvial valleys,
which occasionally send it a little water. But although the total area of its
drainage probably exceeds 180,000 square miles in extent, scarcely any of its
numerous affluents are ever flooded for any length of time. ^Vhen one is full
another is dry, and ordinarily nothing is met except stagnant pools or meres, or
jnst a little moisture, so that to obtain a supply of water travellers are often
obliged to dig holes in the sandy depressions. In any case, owing to the very
slight incline of the surface in the Kalahari Desert, this fluvial system has been

• Through the Kalahari Desert, p. 417.

THE OEANGE ElVER.

unable to complete the work of erosion required to form normal river beds.
Hence after the heavy rains a large quantity of the precipitated water lodges in
little reservoirs without any outflow, closed basins which often run dry through
evaporation or infiltration before the next downpour. According to the season

Fig. 28.— The Falls of the Oeanoe.

these depressions are consequently either shallow lagooi|s in which the hunter
dare not venture, or almost equally dangerous muddy quagmires, or lastly dry
and arid plains. Some with porous beds are clothed with vegetation after the
fresh water has evaporated, and these are the cleys of the Dutch explorers.
Others, with impenetrable argillaceous beds, are more arid in summer than the
relatively elevated surrounding plains, and these are known as salt-pans from the
white saline efflorescences left on the surface after the rain water has evaporated.

90 SOUTH AXD EAST AFUJCA.

Throughout its lower course the Orange receives no perennial contributions
from any direction, the gorges which open in the quartz cliffs to the right and left
of its valley being for the most part merely the winding sand-beds of intermittent
or altogether dried -up affluents. Hence as it approaches the sea it decreases in
volume, and although the main stream is over 40 feet deep during the great floods,
it may be forded for most of the year at certain points where a transversa passage
is presented by the lateral ravines facing each other on both banks. But iu the
deep rocky gorge by which it pierces the coast range on its seaward course, the
Orange is almost inaccessible from either side. At several points the overhanging
escarpments of the surrounding plateaux rise several hundred yards above its
channel, and the traveller might perish of thirst without finding a single
fissure or practicable track leading down to the tantalising stream which he sees
flowing at his feet.

The river, barred at every turning by projecting rocky ledges, rushes in abrupt
meandcrings between the enclosing granite cliffs, and at one point even trends
sharply to the south, flowing for some distance in this direction before it finds an
opening iu the last barrier obstructing its course to the sea. Above the bar its
waters are collected in an extensive lacustrine basin, above which hover countless
flocks of aquatic birds. It frequently happens that this basin becomes completely
cut o2 from the sea by an intervening strip of sand. During the fluvial inunda-
tions the swift current opens a broad channel to the Atlantic ; but even then it is
inaccessible to shii)piug owing to the submarine banks resting on elevated rocky
plateaux, where the surf beats incessantly. Hence vessels bound for this part of
the coast are obliged to land at the small inlet of Cape Voltas, lying to the south
of the Orange estuary. Thus this great river, which has a total course of no less
than 1,300 miles, draining an area of over 500,000 square miles, is as useless for
navigation as it mostly is for irrigation purposes.

The Olifant, Breede, Great Fish, and Kei Rivers.

None of the rivers reaching the Atlantic between the Orange and the Cape of
Good Hope, or for some distance east of that point, have room to develop a long
course in the narrow space separating the coast ranges from the sea. Nor do any of
them send down a great volume of water, notwithstanding the relatively heavy rain-
fall in this region. On the west side the largest is the Olifant, that is "Elephant,"
River, which flows mainly in a north-westerly direction to the sea above St. Helena
Bay. On the southern slope the Breede-rivier ("Broad River") collects the
surface waters from the uplands round about Capetown, and reaches the coast
east of Cape Agulhas through a channel accessible to vessels of 150 tons.
Notwithstanding its comparatively small size the Breede is the only stream in
Cape Colony which has a seaport on its banks. Some miles farther east the Southern
Ocean is reached by the Groote-rivier ("Great River "), called also the Gaurits,
whose ramif}ing flu%-ial system resembles the widespread branches of an oak.
The Gamtoa, or Gamtoos, which like the Gaurits rises on the plain of the Great
Karoo, and like it also forces the parallel coast ranges through a series of romantic

TKE GREAT FISH ER"EE.

'•1

gorges, is often corapleteh- exhausted before reaching the ocean at Saint Francis
Bay. Beyond it follow Sunday River, falling into Algoa Bay, and Great Fish
River, which after an extremely winding course debouches in the Indian Ocean, near

Fig. 29. — Gate of the Si. John Riteb
Scale t : 60,000.

3C
158'

;a^'rg'^5>adat«g

^•^>,

29°3i

L ast 01 UPeenw.ch

29°M-

Sands exposed at
low water.

V to IH

Feet.

Depths

!•; to .iJ

Feet

32 Feet and
upwards.

■.m:00 Yards.

the point where the continental coast-line begins to trend north-eastwards. Here
the effects of a different climate already begin to make themselves felt. Although
shorter than those on the southern seaboard, these eastern streams roll down a
larger volume of water.

92 i>UUTIl AND EA^^T AFRICA.

The Kci, that is, the " Great," plconasfically called the " Great Kei," which
descends from the Storm-bergen and the Kwathlamlxi highlands, has acquired
considerable political importance first as the old limit of the Hottentot domain, and
afterwards as for a long time marking the boundary of the British possessions in
this direction. Beyond it begins the territory of the Transkei Kafirs (Galccas and
others), who were formerly independent of the colonial government. The Kei is
a very rapid stream, rushing over magnificent waterfalls and winding through
many romantic gorges. But of all the rivers watering the Kafir domain the most
picturesque is the St. John, that is, the Um-Zimvulu of the natives. At its mouth
it is a broad stream 2,000 feet wide from bank to bank ; but the channel gradually
narrows and becomes hemmed in between steep wooded escarpments dominated by
the vertical cliffs of a terrace, which is itself surmounted by other rocky walls
terminating in a flat tabular surface. This section of the stream, where both banks
rival each other in size and romantic beauty, has received from the English settlers
the name of the " Gate " of the St. John. Notwithstanding its great width the
entrance is rendered inaccessible to large vessels by a bar, which, however, is easily
crossed with the flood tide by smaller craft. For these the river is navigable from
its mouth for about twelve miles to the point where the first rapids obstruct all
further approach.

The Rivers of Natat, and ZrnJi.AND.

The colony of Natal is intersected by several parallel channels, e;ich flooded by
a copious stream with its wild gorges, falls, and rapids. The Um-Zimkulu, Um-
Komanzi, Um-Lazi, Um-Geni, and other Urns, or " watercourses," follow succes-
sively as far as the gi;eat Tugela river, whose main branch rises, like the Vaal
and the Caledon, on the Potong uplands, and which flows thence to the Indian
Ocean between Natal and the Zulu territory. Beyond this point the relief of the
seaboard and with it the salient features of the running waters become modified.
Their banks are no longer rocky, the hiUs recede more inland, leaving between
them and the sea a broad level zone, over which the rivers wind mainly in a
northerly or north-easterly course. For a space of about 180 miles in a bee line
the coast maintains the character of a sandy beach covered with dunes and enclos-
ing extensive lagoons and backwaters. The largest of these lagoons, which were
formerly marine inlets, but which are now separated from the sea by narrow strips
of sand, is the so-called Lake St. Lucia, a sheet of shallow water nearly 60 miles
long with a mean breadth of 12 miles. It occupies the southern part of the
low-lying coastlands, which terminate northwards in a number of channels and
smaller lagoons commun'cating with the spacious inlet of Lourenco Marques or
Delagoa Bay. This section of the seaboard is clearly limited southwards by the
narrow passages giving access to Lake St. Lucia, northwards by the arm of the sea
which penetrates into Delagoa Bay.

At its issue the southern basin of St. Lucia is obstructed by a bar infested by
voracious sharks, which often greedily swallow the sounding lines and snap at the
boathooks of passing craft. In 1875, when these waters were surveyed by the

LAKE ST. LUCIA.

Knsstiii, the channel was completely closed by a tongue of sand, and even during
the floods the dangerous entrance offers a very precarious refuge to vessels
frequenting this coast. Nevertheless such as it is this haven would have been a

Fig. 30.— Delaooa Bay.
Scale 1 : 650.000.

jDepths.

Sands t'xpiised at 0 to :J2

low water. Feet.

32 to 80
Feet

80 to 160
Feet.

12 Milea.

160 Feet and
upwards.

valuable acquisition for the Dutch republics, which have hitherto been cut off from
all communication with the sea. Hence the eagerness is easily explained with
which the Boers of the Transvaal have so far unsuccessfuUj^ endeavoured to secure
against the opposition of England an outlet at this point of the seaboard.

94 SOUTH AND EAST .\FRICA,

Delagoa Bay.

Far more important in everj' respect is the northern inlet of Delagoa Bay,
which, opening northwards, presents good anchorage in over 60 feet of water,
easily accessible to the largest vessels through a well-sheltered passage running
some distance inland. Hence the British Government for some time disputed the
possession of this valuable harbour of refuge with the Portuguese, who relied on
their long-established claims to its exclusive ownership. England asserted her
right especially to occupy the island of Inyak, which forms a northern extension
of the peninsula of like name at the entrance of the bay. Nevertheless the
President of the French Republic, to whom the question had been referred for
arbitration in the year 1875, decided in favour of Portugal, assigning to her the
free disposition ot the lands encircling the bay, which since the opening of the rail-
way to the Transvaal has become the outlet for much of the produce of the interior.

Between the St. Lucia and Delagoa inlets, the form of the sandy coast as
well as that of the lagoons disposed in the same direction, together with the
course of all the rivers which here trend northwards, all seems to point at the
action of a marine current steadily setting in the direction from south to north
along this seaboard. Such a current would be opposed to that flowing south-
wards from Mozambique, while its action on the sandy coast would be much
promoted by the hea^y seas rolling in from the Indian Ocean imder the influence
of the south-east trade-winds. In this way may have been formed the outer
coast-line formed by a long succession of sandy tongues, all .skirting the east side
of the shallow coast lagoons and rimning parallel with the true continental shore-
line.

North of Delagoa Bay the altered conditions must give rise to the opposite
phenomenon. Here the marine current sets southwards, while the Manissa River,
instead of flowing* in a straight line seawards, is deflected along its lower course
in a line parallel ^\-ith the coast itself. It thus flows for a considerable distance
towards the south before mingling its waters with those of the bay.

Several other rivers converge towards the same basin. From the south comes
the Maputa, which is formed bj' numerous watercourses which have their rise in
the interior of the Zulu and Swazi territories. From the west descend the Tembi
and Ura-Bolozi, reaching the estuary in a united stream at the point where is
situated the town of Lourenfo Marques. Lastly from the north comes the
copious current of the already mentioned Manissa. Thanks to the high tides and
the natural depth of their channels, all these affluents of the bay are accessible to
shipping for some distance inland. The Manissa, that is, the King George River
of the English settlers, was ascended for 130 miles from its mouth by Hilliard,
who nowhere found it less than 3^ feet deep. Hence this watercourse would
afford easy access to the auriferous regions of the interior, but for the marshy
tracts, which occur at many points along its course, and which render the climate
extremely malarious. The Manissa was long supposed to be the lower course of
the Limpopo, which rises towards the west of the Transvaal republic. But its

a
a
o

a,
o

X
H

Ed
O
03

THE LIMrOPO. 'J5

basin, which has now been thoroughly explored, is known to receive all its waters
from the eastern or maritime slope of the coast ranges.

The Limpopo.

The Limpopo, or Crocodile, which is the Oira of the old Portuguese maps, and
which is known by manj- other names, such as Inha-Mpura at its mouth, and
Moti, Uri, Berabe, Lenape, Lebempe along different parts of its course, is one of
the great rivers of Austral Africa, at least for its length and the extent of its
basin, if not for the volume of its waters. Its further headstreams have their
source on the plateau where the Boers have founded Pretoria, capital of the South
African republic, some 320 miles from the Indian Ocean, but at least three times
that distance following all the windings of the flu\-ial valley. At first it takes
a north-westerly direction, as if to fall into the depression, the bed of which is
occupied by Lake Ngami and other saline reservoirs. But after piercing the
barrier of the Magalies range and forcing its way through several other rocky
sorffes, it trends round to the north-east and then to the east, descending the
inclined plane of the elevated South African plateau. From this tableland it
escapes through a series of deep ravines, overcoming the last granite barrier of
the Zoutpansbergen by the superb Tolo Azime Falls, and at last emerging on the
open lowlands through a number of narrow rocky gorges. Here it sweeps round
to the south-east and then to the south as far as its junction with its chief
tributary, the Olifant ("Elephant") River. Beyond the confluence it is joined
by another fluvial valley, a long but mostly waterless wady, which ramifies north-
wards through the Portuguese territory.

Notwithstanding the number and length of its afiluents, the Limpopo is not a
copious river. It loses a part of its waters in the swampy tracts skirting both
sides of its lower coiirse, and reaches the Indian Ocean through a mouth about
1,000 feet wide, which is obstructed by sandbanks for a long way off the coast.
Nevertheless Captain Chaddock was able to ascend it in a steamer for 100 miles
from the estuarj-. Penetrating through the southern channel, this explorer
succeeded in crossing the bar against a current running at the rate of nearly 5
miles an hour. The channel was found to be very narrow, but correspondingly
deep, in some places no less than 24 or 26 feet. The river also continued to be
generally narrow and deep, flowing through a low-lying level country, to within
a few miles of Manjoba's kraal, which was the farthest point reached. Here it
became hilly and well wooded, and was reported to retain the same character far
inland. The trip was made in April, 1884, with the Maud, which appears to be
the first vessel of any sort that had entered and navigated the Limpopo.

Climate of South Africa.

LjTng almost entirely within the south temperate zone, the basins of the
Orange and of the other rivers traversing Cape Colony, Natal, and the Dutch

SOUTU AND EAST AFRICA.

republics have a climate presenting the same contrasts with the returning
seasons as that of ^Vest Europe, but in the reverse order, the winter of the
Cape answering to the summer of the northern hemisphere. Although the
Austral African seaboard corresponds in latitude almost exactly with Mauritania,
Cyprus, and Syria, it has a much lower average temperature, which is identical
with that of European towns lying some hundred miles farther from the equator.
In the general distribution of climates the advantage lies with the northern
regions, which receive a larger amount of heat, thanks to the unequal distribution
of land and water, which causes the wanner aerial and marine currents to set
rather in the dii-ectiou of the northern than of the southern tropical zone.

rig. 31. — AouLHAs Baxk.
Scale 1 : 7,000,000.

E d ^t of (j r een A I ch

Depths.

0 to 320
Feet.

150 Miles.

Another circumstance tends to cool the extremity of Austral Africa compared
with the Mediterranean regions under corresponding latitudes. A large section
of its seaboard is turned towards the cold Antarctic Ocean, from which numerous
icebergs and much drift ice often float with the marine currents in the direction
of the Cape.*

But these marine currents which skirt the South African coasts are by no
means of uniform character, and present on either side of the Cape a most

* ComparatiTe mean temperatures of corresponding latitudes in the northern and southern hemi-
spheres:— Cape Town (35° 56' S. lat.), 61= F. ; Beyrut (33° 53' N. lat.), 69° F. ; Durban (29° 50' S. lat.),
68° F. ; Cairo (30' N. lat.), 71° F. Equal temperatures imder different latitudes in both hemispheres : —
Cape Town (35° 56' S. lat.), 61' F. ; Constantinople (41'" N. lat.), GU" S' F. ; Durban (29' oO' S. lat.), 68° F. ;
Tunis (36° 48' N. lat.), 67° 9' F.

CLIALVTE OF SOUTH AFEICA. 97

remarkable contrast in their respective temperatures. The Antarctic polar
current setting from the south passes west of Capetown, and after entering the
Atlantic, continues to skirt the west coast beyond the Congo and Ogoway
estuaries. On the opposite side the Mozambique current, coming from the Indian
Ocean, flows by the shores of Xatal and Kafirland, penetrates into the southern
inlets of Cape Colony, and at last rounds the extreme continental headlands,
whence its local name of the Agulhas Current. In summer, when the cold
Antarctic stream is directed by the regiJar south winds more swiftly towards the
north, its temperature is found to be from 50" to 52° F. But in False Bay,
immediately east of the Cape, the water brought by the current from the Indian
Ocean is often as high as 66°, rising in the neighbourhood of Cape Agulhas even,
to 78° or 80^ F. In consequence of this great contrast in the character of the
neighbouring marine waters, Capetown and Simon's Town, although separated
only by a narrow intervening promontory, have different climates. The latter
lies nearer to the South Pole, but nevertheless enjoys a warmer atmosphere by at
least three degrees.

The regular winds which prevail on the South African seaboard succeed each
other in such a way as to diminish the contrasts between the seasons. Hence the
average yearly variations from winter to summer are far less intense in Cape
Colony than in the regions possessing a corresponding climate in the northern
hemisphere. The cold south-east trade winds prevail chiefly in summer, thereby
tempering its excessive heats. The returning breezes — that is to saj-, the north-
westerly aerial currents — set in, on the contrary, during the winter months, when
the whole system of trade winds has been attracted northwards in the wake of the
sun. All these normal currents, however, arc frequently deflected towards the
tablelands of the interior by the continental centres of heat. Thus on the eastern
seaboard the trade wind veers at times quite round to the west, whereas in the
north it sets southwards and in the Atlantic takes an easterly direction. In the
hot season, when the winds blow from the north after traversing the desert inland
plateaux, the atmosphere seems like the blast of a fiery furnace, and at such times
the heat is most oppressive, especiallj- in the upland regions farthest removed
from the moderating influence of the surrounding oceanic waters. In general as
we advance from the coast towards the interior, the climate acquires a more con-
tinental or extreme character, becoming not only colder in winter, which might be
explained by the greater altitude of the land, but also much warmer in summer.*
Temperatures of varioua South African to\ms : —

South Latitude.

Altitude.

Mean Temperature.

Meao Extremes.

Simon's Town

34° 12'

50 feet

03° F.

92° and 43'

Capetown

. 33" oO-

62°

91° „ 39°-8

Port Elizabpth .

33' 57'

240

62°-8

95° „ 42°-8

Graham's Town .

33° 20'

1,800

62°-4

102° „ 34°

Graaf Reinet

32° 16'

2,?50

64°-4

102°-2„ 33°

Bloemfoutein

28' 56"

4,550

61°-8

93°-6 „ 41°

Du Toif s Pan .

28° 45'

4-,000

62°-6

104° „ 40°-6

Pretoria

25° 45'

4,300

60°-8

95°-4 „ 32°-5

Port Durban

29° 50'

250

67°

»»

Pieter MaritzbuTij

29° 30'

2,100

C2°-7

95° „ 32°-*

AFRICA IV.

SOUTH AND EAST APRICA.

Except at some points of the coast, such as Simon's Town and Pietcr Maritzburg,
the atnios2)liere is less humid than in West Europe, being extremely dry, especially
on the plateaux. Tabic Mountain frequently presents in summer a remarkable
phenomenon, which is due to the greater dryness of the lower aerial strata. The
south-east winds, which strike against the huge sandstone block, rise above its
south-eastern slojics, and the moisture becoming condensed in the cold atmosphei'o
of the summit, spreads out in a dense whitish cloud over the plateau. This " table-
cloth," as it is locally called, does not terminate abrujitly at the brink of the preci-
pice, but rolls over down towards the city spread oiit at its foot. Magnificent
cascades of sun-lit mist descend some two or three hundred yards, floating like folds
of delicate draperj' on the breeze, and gradually dissolving in the lower atmospheric
regions. Here all the moisture brought by the trade winds becomes absorbed, and
except on the cloud-capped summit of the mountain, the whole country remains
bathed in sunshine under the bright azure sky. In winter, when the north-west

Fig. 32. — IsOTHEKMALS OP SoCTH AfEIOA.
Scale 1 : 15,r/X),non.

300 Miles,

winds prevail, the phenomenon is reversed, and then the billowy mists roll down
from the platecu on the opposite side towards Simon's Town.

The rainfall is very unequally distributed on the seaboard and in the interior
of South Africa ; but on the whole the actual quantity of moisture precipitated is
relatively slight, and certainly far less than that of West Europe. Copious rains
occur only in a small number of privileged localities, such as the slopes of Table
Mountain, where the relief of the land compels the clouds to discharge their con-
tents more freely. Hence in these southern latitudes the year is not divided, as in
the equatorial zone, into two well-marked seasons, one rainy, the other completely
dry. On the contrarj^, showers occur everj'where, even on the inland plateaux,
throughout the -whole j-ear, although usually distributed with a certain regidarity
from month to month. On the Atlantic side moisture is brought by the returning
winds, and consequently abounds mostly in winter from May to August, and especi-
ally in the month of July. On the rest of the seaboard between False Bay and

CLIMATE OF SOUTH ATEICA. 99

Zululand the humidity is duo maiuly to the south-east winds, and as these prevail
in summer, here the rainfall is heaviest between the months of December and
February. Most of the moisture being supplied by the Indian Ocean, the inland
plateaux, the Karroo, and the Dutch republics also receive their far too scanty rains
in the same season, during the prevalence of the easterly trade winds.*

On tlje Natal coast the iierce gales are occasionally accompanied by " marine
rains," which are almost entirely confined to the neighbourhood of the sea,
whereas the oiflinary rains are for the most part torrential downpours, occurring
on the slopes of the mountains. The regions which receive the least quantity of
moisture are the plain of the Great Karroo, the basin of the Lower Orange, and
the Kalahari Desert. Here the rains are irregular, but when they do fall they
burst like a sudden deluge over the plains. In this Dorst-veld, or "Thirsty land,"
vast stretches are covered with sands, which are disposed in dunes rolling away
beyond the horizon like the ocean waves, and often clothed in vegetation.
Springs are rare, in some districts occurring only at long intervals of fifty or sixty
miles ; but the Bushmen understand how best to utilize the moist bottom lands in
order to procure sufficient water for themselves and their cattle. They bore holes
to a depth of about three feet and let down a reed with a sponge attached to its
lower end, and in this way are able to suck up enough to fill their calabashes.
The wants are thus sixpplied of the animals, which in the Kalahari are accustomed
through necessity to drink little, and which are watered by the Bechuana herds-
men only every two or three days. The goats pass months together without
quenching their thirst, and certain species of South African antelopes are said
never to seek the springs. t

The remark has often been made that Austral Africa is passing through a
process of desiccation. Most travellers are of accord in stating that the territory
of the Bechuanas and neighbouring tribes between the Orange and Lake Ngami
has already lost its regular streams, and that tillage has consequently had to with-
draw more and more towards the mountains.^ Nor can there be any doubt that
during the present geological epoch the quantity of moisture has gradually
diminished throughout the region of South Africa, as abundantly attested by the
ancient lakes transformed to salines, by the river-beds changed to dry barren
ravines. " The land is dead ! He on high has killed the land ! " frequently
exclaim the Bechuanas.

At the same time the observations made in these regions by the resident

Distribution of rainfall in South Africa : —

Simon's Town . . . .27 inches Blocmfontcin

Capetown . . . .27

Port Elizabeth . . . .24

Graham's Town . . . 29

Graaf Eeinet . . . .25

DuToit'sPau .
Pretoria
Port Durban
Pieter Maritzburg

24 inches.
IG „
24 „

ii „
31 „

t Mackenzie, Ten Tears North of the Orange River.

X Livingstone, last Journal; Anderson, Lake Xgami ; Chapman, Traieh ; James Foi Wilson,
Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, 1865.

100

SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

missionaries and by passing travellers are not sufficiently accurate, nor do they
cover onougli ground to decide the question whether during the present century
there has been really a falling off in the supply of moisture in South Africa, or
whether the distribution of the rainfall has merely become more irregular, so that
long periods of drought and of rains alternate with more or less regular recurrence.
The latter would sccni to bo the more probable view of the case. The destruction
of the forests which has taken place in all the districts where colonists have settled,
as well as the conflagrations which have been kindled by the cattle grazers, must
have had the result of rendering the running waters much more irregular in their
flow, and even changing many of them into mere spruils, or wadys. Tlie tranquil

Fig. 33.— Rainfall op Soijth Afbica.

Scale 1 : 22.600,000.

Dcp'hs.

0lo4

luches.

4 to 8
Inches.

8 to 16.
Inches.

lGto24
Inches.

24 Inches and
upwards.

. 300 XlUea.

streams winding along well-defined channels have been largely replaced b}' the
"wild waters" rushing suddenly in impetuous freshets down to the plains, and as
suddenly leaving the fluvial beds again dry or swampy. The ground, swept of its
grassy carpet and hardened by the sun, no longer absorbs the rain waters, which
pass rapidly away without being of much avail for irrigation purposes. But
during the half-century since regular observations have been taken at the Cape and
at a few other meteorological stations in Austral Africa^ no facts haA'e been
recorded at all pointing to any actual diminution of the rainfall, at least through-
out the coastlands. On the contrarj', many farmsteads fonnerly suffered from an
insufficient supply on the upland plateaux, where at present, thanks to a careful

FLOEA OF SOUTH AFEIOA. 101

husbanding of the resources, whole towns find at all times a superabundant quantity
oi good water.

Cape Colony and the conterminous lands are one of the most salubrious regions
on the globe, not only for the natives, but also for immigrants from Europe.
Hence acclimatisation is effected without any difficulty, and often even with bene-
ficial reiults. Even in the inland districts, where the summer heats are at times
almost oppressive, Europeans are able to work between sunrise and sunset as in
their native land. Epidemics seldom prevail, nor have they ever been so virulent
as in Europe or many parts of the United States. The Cape has never yet been
visited either by cholera or yellow fever ; affections of the chest are also very rare,
and the most ordinary complaints appear to be rheumatism and neuralgia.

Before the opening of the Suez Canal, most of the functionaries and officers
returning from India broke their journey at the Cape, where they spent some
time to recover their health ; now, however, the easy and much shorter overland
route enables them to proceed straight to England. The few invalids who at
present seek in the climate of Austral Africa a remedj', or at least a temporary
relief, from their maladies, come directly from Great Britain, and take up their
residence chiefly in Capetown, Graham's Town, and Bloemfontein. But while
the pure atmosphere of these regions is efficacious for some ailments, its virtue is
even more conspicuously felt by the whole race, which here acquires greater
vigour and physical beaut3^ Both in the British colonies and the Dutch
republics, European families thrive well, so that even without anj' fresh stream
of immigration, the white population would increase by the natural excess of
births over the death-rate. The \ital statistics show that in not a few rural dis-
tricts the birth-rate is three times higher than the mortality, a proportion
unknown in the most favoured European lands.

Floka of South Africa.

The flora which has been developed under the favourable climatic conditions
of Austral Africa, is one of the richest in the world. It would almost seem as if
all the vegetable forms adapted for the temperate zone, right round the southern
hemisphere, had been concentrated and crowded together by the continuous
tapering of the African continent towards its southern extremitj'.

According to Armitage, the region of the Cape comprises at least about twelve
thousand species, that is to say, two or three times more than all the combined
vegetable zones of Europe. On a single mountain in the neighbourhood of Paarl,
to the north-east of Capetown, Drege counted in spring no less than seven
hundred flowering vascular plants, so distributed over the slopes that each
vertical space of about 1,000 feet constituted a perfectly distinct vegetable area.

The tj'pical species present a marked general resemblance to those of Aus-
tralia ; but althoiigh the latter continent is five times more extensive, penetrating
northwards far into the torrid zone, its whole floral world is scarcely more
diversified than that of the relatively contracted region of South Africa. Of

102 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

the immense variety of forms here concentrated, the endemic genera altogether
peculiar to the floral domain of the Cape number very nearly four hundred and
fifty.

The botanical region which begins with the plains of Clanwilliam and Olifant
on the Atlantic seaboard, and which embraces the extreme south-west continental
coast ranges, constitutes an area of a very limited extent, distinguished, like the
Mediterranean region, by its thickets of shrubs and lesser growths. Nearly
everpvhere it presents numerous woody plants from four to eight fe'et high, with
a dull green or bluish foliage. These are the so-called hoschjcs or hoschjesvelds of
the Dutch settlers, the bush counfri/ of the English, inhabited chiefly by scattered
wild tribes thence known as Bushmen. Although during the early period of
colonisation these thick-set tracts presented great obstacles to free intercommuni-
cation, the immigrants always foimd it possible to clear the route for their long
teams of oxen, whereas they would have been unable to traverse true forests
except on foot or on horseback.

Large forest vegetation is rare in the Cape region, where it is confined chiefly
to the southern slopes of highlands which skirt the seaboard between Mossel and
St. Francis Bays. Most indigenous trees seek shelter in the gorges, and even
here rarely exceed twenty-eight or thirty feet in height. Sub-tropical forms are hern
still represented on the shores of the Southern Ocean by a dwarf date, some cycadeaj
and aloes. On the Cedar Mountains, in the south-western part of the country,
there formerly flourished some species of so-called " cedars " with a girth of over
thii-ty feet at the base.* One of the most characteristic forms in the Cape zone is
the silver tree (Leucadendronargenteian), -which owes its name to the silvery metallic
lustre of its st«m, boughs, and foliage. These plants, with their finely chased
ramifying branches, when glittering in the bright sunshine, look almost like the
work of some skilful silversmith, like those jewelled trees placed by the great
Moghuls in their imperial gardens.

The heaths, of which over four hundred species are found in the South African
bush, predominate amongst the woody plants. With the rhenoster, or rhino-
ceros-wood {Elytropaj^pus rliinocerotis), a plant from one to two feet high and in
appearance somewhat resembling the heather, they form the most characteristic
feature in the local flora. During the flowering season the mountains clothed
with heath often present, from base to summit, one uniform mass of pink bloom.
I'lants of the iris, geranium, and pelargonium groups are also very common in
the Cape region ; whereas the rubiacerc, an order represented in other parts of the
world by such a large number of species, constitute in Austral Africa less than a
himdrcdth part of the indigenous flora.

The beds of the rivers and watercour.ses are often choked with reeds and flags
(Acorns palmifes or prionium), plants with deep roots and close-packed stems, whose
tufted terminal foliage spreads out on the surface so as completely to conceal the
water, even to travellers fording the sti-eam. Thus sheltered from the solar rays,

• Alexander, Ah Expedition of Discovery into the Interior of Africa.

FLORA OP SOUTH AFRICA. 103

the current loses little by evaporation, and often holds out till the middle of
summer. The water is also frequently dammed up and thus retained in its bed
for several weeks and even months together by the thousand little barriers
formed by the dense masses of sedge growing at certain points along the banks
of the stream. The discharge is thus regulated by the aquatic vegetation so
elTcctualJ}' that these river valleys arc entirely free from the sudden freshets,
■which in a few hours often convert the wild mountain torrents of Abyssinia into
liquid avalanches.

Although flourishing in a temperate climate corresponding to that of West
Europe, the flora of the Cape presents a remarkable contrast to the analogous
forms of the northern hemisphere. Its period of repose coincides, not ^^•ith the
cold but with the hot season, so that the expression " to hibernate " is here quite
inapplicable. The deciduous plants lose their foliage in the dry period extending
from March to Maj', but when rain begins to fall the temperature is stiU suffi-
ciently high, even during the cold season, for the vegetation to revive, put forth
its leaves and blossom.

Even the plants introduced from other countries have acquired the same habits.
According to M. Bolus, they comprise altogether about one hundred and sixty
species, and are mostly of European origin, but also include some from America
and India. These exotics are seldom met at any great distance from the high-
^^•aJ■s and European settlements. In the interior they are scarcely ever seen, and
on the whole they cannot be said to have hitherto exercised any marked influence
on the South African vegetable woi-ld. The indigenous species have so far success-
fully resisted the foreign intruders, and, if left to themselves, would probably in
course of time recover all their lost ground.

Two plants alone of the northern latitudes have found in Austral Africa a
perfectly congenial climate and suitable soil. These are the Barbary fig, which is
spreading over the less fertile tracts, and the Finns pinea, which is gradually
encroaching on many rocky slopes. The species introduced into the Cape from
Europe are nearly all ornamental ])lants ; they are reckoned by the hundred, and
they form the pride of the conservatories adapted for the cultivation of specimens
belonging to the temperate zones of the earth. Many of the towns in the south-
western districts are already encircled by fine avenues of oak-trees. At the end
of the last and beginning of the present centur}^ the indigenous species were held
most in favour, and fashion had enthroned them the queens of every garden. As
early as the middle of the seventeenth century, that is, before the country was
colonised, passing seafarers had already brought specimens from the Cape of Good
Hope to the Dutch florists. ,

In the direction of Algoa Bay the character of the vegetation becomes gradu-
ally modified along the seaboard districts. Here the varieties peculiar to the Cape
disappear and become replaced by those belonging to the East African coastlands.
Onlj' a few ferns still straggle on, and the geraniums almost cease to be represented,
for here begins the maritime zone of the Indian Ocean, where the climate is at
once warmer and more humid than on the shores of the Atlantic. A few tropical

101 SOUTU AND E.VST AFEICA.

groups, such as that of the cypcracerc, arc seen as far inhind as the slopes of the
hills in the basins of the Groat Kci and Great Fish Rivers, and the country becomes
more and more verdant as we follow the coastline in the north-cast direction
towards Kafirland and Natal. The trees increase in size and the spread of their
branches, while most of them assume a greater wealth of foliage and more brilliant
blossom. In Natal no season of the year is destitute of plants in flowf/. The
thickets of leafy trees are here and there interspersed with two species of palm,
the Phoenix reclinata, and another whose roots are as polished as vegetable ivory.
Here also the superb Zamia cycndi/olia raises its gracef idly curved fronds resembling
the plumage of an ostrich. Although still lying far to the south of the tropical
line, the flora of this region is no longer that of the temperate zone.

Beyond the coast ranges, where begin the arid plateaux rarely watered by the
lifo-giving rains, the aspect of the vegetable world suddenly changes. Here wo
enter the botanic region of the Karroos, which is sharply limited towards the
south and south-east, but less clearlj- defined on the west and north-west in the
direction of the Namaqua plateau, and on the north towards the deserts traversed
by the Orange River. The zone of the Karroos is destitute of trees, and even of
shrubs, with the exception of the dornlioom or "thorn-tree" of the Dutch settlers,
a species of acacia (Acacia horrida) which fringes the banks of the wadys. Neither
the heaths nor many other families characteristic of the Cape flora have penetrated
into the Karroos, where leguminous plants are also extremely rare. But the liar-
bary fig, after overrunning the plains of the Cape, is now encroaching on tho
northern upland plateaux, notwithstanding the efforts to extirpate it round about
the farmsteads.

This arid region abounds especially in thorny species, to all of which might
well bo applied the term "wait-a-bit," given to one variety of acacia (Acacia
deteneim), because the unguarded wayfarer often finds himsdf suddenly arrested
by its sharp spines. About one-third of the whole flora comprises such plants
belonging to the Cape region as have succeeded in adapting themselves to the dry
climate of tho Karroo by means of their succulent roots, stems, and foliage. The
plains and the heights dominating them are usually of a uniform grey colour, but
after tho rains Nature suddenly assumes a festive garb. The stunted plants burst
into blossom in all directions, and the ground becomes draped in an endlessly
diversified mantle of yellow, blue, and purple bloom. But this bright array is of
short duration, and the vegetation soon resumes its sombre ashy aspect. Tlero
arc numerous monoeotyledonous species, which never blossom for years together,
lacking the favourable conditions of light, moisture, and heat needed to stimulate
their florescence.

North of the highlands which border the Karroo, and which are remarkably
rich in compound species, stretches the zone of steppes and deserts, to which is
generally applied the term Kalahari, although It really begins south of the Orange
lliver below the region so named. In its more fertile districts, the Kalahari presents
tho aspe.-t of a savannah of tall grasses growing in isolated tufts and interspersed
viih a lew .'tunled ."shrubs. In the northern districts it is occupied by open forests

FAUNA OF SOUTH iy?EICA. 105

consisting almost exclusively of acacias furnished with a formidable thorny armour.
In the midst of the sands grow a few alimentary plants which enable travellers to
risk the dangers of the desert. Such is the " Bushman's potato," a tuber of some-
what bitter flavour, but leaving a pleasant aftertaste, and whose broad green leaves
flecked with brown are all charged with water. A species of onion with white
flower, \vhich supplies their chief food to the monkej's of the Kalahari, is also
highly appreciated by the natives.

But the ^reat resource for men and animals is the nara or sama (Acanf/wsici/os
horrida), called also the " wild melon," a cucurbitaceous plant not unlike our culti-
vated melons, which contains both a savoury meat and a refreshing drink. This
fruit may be preserved in the sands for months together ; it grows also in the
Namaqua country and on the plateaux inhabited by the Hereros.

The Kalahari flora is connected by insensible transitions with those of Angola
in the north-west, of the plains of the Upper Zambese in the north, and of the
Upper Limpopo basin in the east. The Magalies Mountains above Pretoria may bo
regarded as the botanical parting-line between the floras of the Kalahari region
and of the slopes draining eastwards to the Pacific Ocean.

Fauna of South Africa.

By a singular and almost inexplicable contrast, the Cape region, so rich in
indigenous vegetable forms, possesses scarcely any animals peculiar to itself. So
far as regards its fauna, Austral Africa is merely a southern continuation of the
tropical portion of the continent. No such striking contrast occurs elsewhere,
except in Tibet, which has scarcely developed any endemic plants, but which has,
nevertheless, given birth to so many distinct animal species.

But if South .(\irica is poor in aboriginal animal types, it was till recently, and
north of the Orange River still is, sm-prisiugly rich in individual members of
groups coming from the northern regions of the continent. So recently as the
beginning of the present century the districts farthest removed from the Capo
settlements still deserved the title of the " hunting-ground of the earth."
Nowhere else could bo found such prodigious multitudes of large mammals,
and the herds, especially of antelopes, coidd at that time be compai-ed with clouds
of locusts. A large part of the literature bearing on the South African colonies
has reference to the subject of hunting. But with the steady progress of
colonisation the ancient inhabitants, both men and animals, have been continually
driven farther north. The hippopotamus, whose remains have been found in the
alluvial deposits of the Calcdon Valley, has been extinct from time immemorial
in the Upper Orange basin.

The elephant, rhinoceros, buffalo, monkey, antelope, and ostrich have, at the
same time, retreated in company with the Bushmen from all the coastlands.
For nearly two centuries none of these animals have been seen in the wild state
in the Cape Town district, and most of them have already withdrawn bej'ond the
mountains, or even beyond the Orange River. The baboon, however, as well as the

106 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

hynena, I'ackal, and wild dog siill linger amid the haiints of men, prowling about

the farmsteads and slieepfolds of the less settled distriets. The squatters apply the

general name of " wolf " to all these predatory beasts. The domestic watch-dogs

are said to be fully conscious of their blood relationship with the wild species,

avoiding or fearing to attack them even when urged and encouraged to the

combat. A few leopards, although continually stalked by the hunters, BtUl have

their lairs hero and there in the dense thickets of the ravines. They are found

even in the neighbourhood of Capetown, and are the most dreaded of all rapacious

beasts in Austral Africa, being feared even more than the lion.

This feline was fonnerly so numerous in the vicinit}' of the Cape, that,
aacording to the statements of the old chroniclers, the early Dutch settlers con-
stantly expected them to combine for a night attack on the fort itself. Now
they have disappeared altogether from the settled districts, but they arc still met
by explorers on the ujjlaud plains of the 13ushman country south of the Orange
River. But here the lion is no longer a " king of the wilderness," striking terror
into the hearts of men and animals by his voice of thunder. Ilaving become more
timid and more wary, he seeks rather to fall imawares on his victims than to
alarm them by his mighty roar. 8port.smcn are unanimous in asserting that, in
the neighbourhood of the highways and human habitations, the lion has become a
mute animal.

While this beast of prey has withdrawn to the verge of the desert, the elephant
and buffalo, who have left in the geographical names of the colony so many proofs
of their former range, have found a last refuge on the coastlands in the dense
Knysna woodlands skirting Plettenburg Bay, and in a few thickets near the
Snceuw-bergen. In these retreats they are protected by the game laws. In the
island of Ceylon, where the elephant finds an abundance of food and water, a
very small nimiber only are provided with tusks; but in Austral Africa all possess
these organs, which they employ to clear away the dry sands of the river beds
down to the undcrgroimd reservoirs, and to slice from the stems of acacias and
other trees strips of bark which thej' slowly masticate.*

South of the Orange Eiver not a single member is now to be found of the
rhinoceros family, of which there formerly existed, and possibly still sur\'ive, as
many as four distinct species in Austral Africa. The hippopotamus has succeeded
better in escaping from the attacks of man, and some of these amphibians are
still met in the waters of the Lower Orange, as well as in the rivers of Kafirland
and Zululand, here in association with the crocodile. Down to the middle of the
present centurj- a few still frequented the Great Fish Eiver.

The giraffe, the zebra, quagga, buffalo, gnu, and most of the twenty-seven
species of antelojDcs which formerly inhabited the now settled districts of Austral
Africa, have retired farther north to the regions of the Kalahari Desert, to
Namaqualand and Transvaal. The gracefid kama (dorcan), most beautifid of all
antelopes, the kudu (sfrcpsiccros), the black antelope, and most of their congeners,

• Alexander, An £xpedilion of Diicovtry into the Interior of Africa.

INHABITANTS OF SOUTH ATEICA. 107

>
have all retreated beyond the Orange. But the ostrich is still found in the wild
state in a few remote districts of the colony and in the Kalahari. According to
Anderson, there exist two distinct species of this bird in South Africa, both differ-
ing from the llauritanian variety.

Amongst the other characteristic birds of the Cape region specially noteworthy
are the jrpiib/icaii or philhetaros, whose colonies build enormous nests protected by
a sort of roof, and the secretary (Serpentariiis rejjfilioorus), which seizes snakes and
kills them with blows of the wing, or else bears them aloft and breaks their
vertebroo by dropping them from great heights on the hard ground. It is for-
bidden to kill or hunt this useful bird.

The reptile world is represented by numerous species, amongst which are
several venomous serpents and snakes, such as the cobra, the garter snake, and
the much dreaded puff-adder, which fortunately for the wayfarer is of somewhat
sluggish motion. The inlets along the seaboard are also infested by several
species of electric fishes, and by others rendered dangerous by their venomous
darts or poisonous flesh.

Inhabitants of South Africa.

The great bulk of the native inhabitants of Austral Africa, south of the
Cunene and Zambese rivers, belong to the widespread Bantu family. It may be
said iu a general way that a line drawn from Algoa Bay in the extreme south
northwards to the latitude of Lake Ngami will form the western limit of the Bantu
peoples, separating them from the Bushmen and Hottentot domain stretching
thence to the Atlantic. The eastern slopes of the moimtains, the valleys of the
Upper Orange, the colony of Natal, and the whole of the Limpopo basin, form part
of this vast ethnical region of the Bantus, that is "Men " in a pre-eminent sense, a
region which further comprises the whole of the south torrid zone, and even
extends beyond the equator as far as the Kameroon highlands. Like the vege-
table species of the equatorial regions, which have gradually invaded the seaboard,
attracted, so to say, by the warm marine currents carrj-ing their seeds from
shore to shore ; like the northern animals which have spread along the coast of
the Indian Ocean to the southern extremity of the continent ; the victorious
Bantu tribes, also from the north, have in the same way carried their conquering
arms from river basin to river basin, at last reaching the shores of the Southern
Ocean, which stretches away to the everlasting snows and ice of the Antarctic
waters.

The Bantus of the British and Dutch possessions are roughly designated by the
general name of Kafirs, extended to them by the Portuguese at the time of the
discover)-. But the word itself is of Arabic origin, meaning " unbeliever," and
is in this sense freelj' applied by the followers of the Prophet to all heathen
or non-Mohammedan populations, and especially to such as have formally rejected
the teachings of the Koran. Hence there are Kafirs in Asia — the Siah-Posh of
Kafiristan — as well as in Africa. But in the latter continent this generic term has

108 SOUTH AXD EAST AFRICA.

gnuliially acquired a more restricted sense, bcinp; now mainly limited to the liantiis
of Austral Africa, and more particularly to the various native tribes occupyin*^ the
region between Cape Colony and Natal. These tribes are themselves closely
related to those settled farther north in the Tugelii basin and thence to the
confines of the Portuguese possessions, who, since the beginning of the present
century, have been better known by the collective name of Zulus. ,

West of the Zulu-Kafirs dwell the kindred Uasutos (Ba-Suto), on the hilly
plateau where rise the (.)rango and Caledon Rivers. Still fartlior west and
beyond the Yaal stretches the territory of the Bcchuanas (Be-Chuana), Avhile tlie
Ba-Kalahari nomads roam over the forests, steppes, and sandy wastes of the wil-
derness from which they have taken their name. Other less extensive tribal
groups, but which al.so require to bo studied apart, inhabit the various states or
provinces of the eastern territory. All these peoples differ considerably in their
customs, political sj-stems, and degrees of culture ; but all arc connected by their
various idioms belonging to the common Bantu linguistic stock, so harmonious and
in structure so strictly logical and consistent, that young and old alike speak it
with unerring accuracy.

Tin; Bi'SHMEN.

The western section of Cape Colony, as far cast as Algoa Bay, belonged origi-
nally to the San race, the few fragmentary surviving remnants of which are
known to Europeans by the collective name of Bosjcsraannen or Bushmen (in the
Boer patois, Boesmans). But the word has acquired rather the meaning of
inferior beings, half human in fomi, but of bestial nature ; and it is noteworthy
that in the Basuto language the word Jidxiiimnii has the sense of " uncircumcised,
vile, or abject." * It is apiilicd in a general way not only to the Bushmen proper,
but also to all vagabond peoples, fugitives or marauders, whether of San, Hottentot,
or even Kafir oi'igin.

The true Sans, who however have no common ethnical designation, nor even
any consciousness of their racial unity, are a people of small and even dwarfish
stature, but with a relatively light yellowish brown complexion, at least in the
southern parts of their domain. They bear a general resemblance to all the other
"pygmies " of Central Africa, such as the Akkas, Ba-Twas, A-Kwas, and A-Bongos,
dispersed in scattered or broken tribes amongst the surrounding Negro and
Bantu populations as far north as the Nile basin. According to many anthro-
pologist.s, these fragmentary groups are the lineal descendants of the first inhabi-
tants of the continent, who have been gradually exterminated, or driven to the
forests, deserts, and mountain gorges by later intruders, the ancestors of the
present dominant populations. It is, however, to be noted that these primitive
dwarfish peoples, often collectively grouped as Negrillos, or Negritos, present far
greater physical differences among themselves than is commonly supposed. Thus

- • Eugene CasaJJB, Les BmsouIos.

ij??^/i

Eh
S5

S
P.

o
z

THE BUSHMEN. 109

Professor Flower has slio(vn that the Akkas have an anatomical constitution
diverging greatly from that of the Bushmen, with whom they are usually
grouped as belonging to a common physical type.*

Anyhow, the invading races recognise the claims of the Sans to priority in
point of time. On the rare occasions that they condescend to join with them in
the chase, they always yield to them a larger share of the captured game than
that awarded to their own chiefs, paying this act of homage to the original
owners of tho land. The Bushmen have even been regarded as the survivors of
some race altogether anterior to the present human inhabitants of the earth.
But however this be, most authors who have spoken of the Sans have certainly
allowed their judgment to be somewhat warped by racial and social prejudices,
describing these persecuted children of the soil as beings far more removed from
ordinary humanity than is really the case. Some of their most deadly enemies,
such as tho Dutch Boers, have even gone the length of denying them the posses-
sion of articulate speech.

The measurements taken by some anthropologists are not yet sufficiently
numerous to enable us to determine the average stature of the Bushmen. In
any case, the individuals examined have nearly all come from the south-western
districts, that is to say, the region where th.e foreign settlers are most numerous,
and where these aborigines consequently lead the most wretched existence, often
treated as wild beasts and stalked or hounded down like lawful game. The
question therefore arises, whether in this region their manner of life, exposure to
the inclemency of the weather, lack of sufficient nutriment, and oppression may
not have had the effect of somewhat reducing the normal stature of the Sans.
In the Kalahari Desert, on the borders of the Bechuana territory, near Lake
Ngami and surrounding saline basins, in the Zambese valley ; lastly, on the
plateaux of tlie Namaquas and Hereros, where many Bushman tribes, here called
Ba-Roas, live in the same social conditions as those of other races, observers have
not noticed such a great disparity in stature as farther south. In some districts
these Ba-Eoas are even taller as well as superior in strength and activity to the
neighbouring peoples. The finest men seen anywhere in South Africa by the
missionary Mackenzie were tho Ma-Denassanas, who live east of Lake Kgami.
These natives, however, who are described as Bushmen in their features, language,
manners, and customs, would seem according to Ilolub really to be Bechuanas
crossed with Negroes from beyond the Zambese.

But however this be, the stimted growth of the southern Bushmen may still
to some extent be explained by the life of hardships and misery which they have
voluntarily accepted in order to remain freemen. Those who were able to com-
bine a relative degree of comfort with personal independence, as well as those who
were fain to become serfs in the Kafir or Hottentot communities, enjoyed a fair
share of nourishment, and their descendants have consequently preserved the
normal proportions. The Namaquas arc regarded by Galton as degraded Bush-

« Meeting of the Antliropolo^cal Institute, February 14th, 1888.

llO SOUTH AND EAST AFBICA.

men ; yet they arc the tallest of all the nations classed as Hottentots. At tho
same time the southern Bushmen, some wretched representatives of whom arc still
met south of the Orange River, arc certainly one of the smallest people in tho
whole world. The greatest mean height, as deduced from six measurements taken
by Fritsch, is slightly over 4 feet 9 inches ; while Burchell and Lichstenstein
found the average scarcely more than 4 feet 1 inch. Thus, even accepting the
more favourable results, these Sans would still be from 2 to 3 inches shorter than
the Lapps.

Their yellowish complexion, especially in the southern regions farthest
removed from the- equator, has been compared to that of Europeans suffering
from jaundice, or of Mongolians in a healthy slate.* In many other respects
tho Bushmen resemble these Asiatics of the Central plateaiix. Like thcin they
are di.stinguished by the small size of their bright eyes, by the breadth and
prominence of their cheekbones, the form of moulh and chin, the whiteness and
regularity of their teeth, the extreme delicacy of their joints. The depression
between the frontal bone and root of the nose is always broad and deep, so that
the general profile presents rather a concave than a convex contour. The
forehead, instead of retreating as with the Mongolians, bulges out ; while the
skull, covered with little tufts like " grains of pepper," is very long or narrow,
with index No. 7;}'03. In this respect the Bushman resembles the true
Negro, whose head is also long, and differs from the Mongolian and the Akka,
whose heads are normally round. The cranial capacity is relatively low, although
the general expression is far from indicating any lack of intelligence. On the
contrary, the physiognomy implies a remarkable degree of sagacit_v ; and assuredly
the Sans need to be constantly on the alert in order to contend successfidly with
the hardships, the elements, and the enemies by which they are beset in their
inhospitable environment.

One of the distinctive characters of the southern Bushmen, conspicuous even
in the young, is the midtiplicity of wrinkles covering the whole person. The skin
of the face and of the body, fitting too loosely, as it were, to their lean figures,
becomes marked with a thousand furrows, but also rapidly distends under the
influence of a more generous diet than falls normally to their lot. Like the
Hottentots, the Bushmen, and especially the women, al.so show a decided tendency,
even from their tender j-ears, towards steatopygia.

The Bxishman speech does not form an independent linguistic group, as has
been supposed, but is connected with that of the Hottentots. Both evidently
belong to a common stock, although differing greatly in their structure and
sjmtax. The nominal roots are identical, and both express all relational ideas by
means of agglutinated suffixes. The Bushman dictionary left unfinished by
Blcek was to contain no less than eleven thousand words. This great wealth
of diction, taken in connection with the common origin of the San and Hottentot
languages, seems to confirm the view held by many anthropologists, that the

• L6on Mechnikov, Mammcript NoUs ; Adolph Bastian, Ethnologische Fortehungen.

THE BUSHMEN. Ill

Bushmen represent a debased or degenerate people belonging to tbe same stock as
their neighbours, and are not an independent race, much less a distinct branch of
mankind.

Like the Hottentots and the south-eastern Kafirs, the Bushmen have in their
phonetic system a group of peculiar consonants, the so-called " clicks," which are
all but unpronounceable by Eurofjcaus, but which are also found in a somewhat
modified form in some other languages. Certain San tribes are said to have
as many as eight of these sounds ; but all seem reducible to four fundamental
clicks : the dental, resembling the smack of a nurse's kiss ; the palatal, like the
tap of a woodpecker on the stem of a tree ; the cerebral, analogous to the pop of a
cork drawn from a bottle ; the lateral, which, according to M. Hahn, resembles
nothing so much as the quack of a duck. At the same time these clicks would
seem to be almost inherent in the soil, for they are found not only in the Bushman
and Hottentot languages, but also in all those of the southern Kafirs, except the
Se-Tlapi (language of the Ba-Tlapis) and the Se-Rolong (language of the Ba-
Rolongs). They have even invaded the local Dutch dialect, the Boers adding
these eccentric sounds to certain words of their 2^^fcis. In the alphabets
introduced by the missionaries, the various clicks are represented by points
of exclamation, crosses, and such like orthographic devices. Like the Indo-
Chinese, the Bushman and Hottentot are toned languages, the words acquiring
different 'meanings according to the more or less elevated tone with which they
are uttered.

Owing to their nomad and fugitive existence, the Sans have developed scarcely
any local industries. In the districts where they have not yet acquired a know-
ledge of firearms, their weapons still are the bow and arrow tipped with poisoned
iron points, or even sharpened stones, glass, and chipped flints. They wear little
clothing, even the rich restricting themselves to the kaross or sheepskin. But all
are fond of decorating the head and bodj- with bone necklaces, arrows, and ostrich
plumes, to which the Kalahari tribes add little bits of wood inserted in the cartilage
of the nostrils. Very few have learnt to build huts, most of the tribes dwelling
in caves or the dens of wild beasts, passiTig the night round the smouldering
embers of a fire, and sheltering themselves from the wind by mats suspended
on stakes.

But their life of hardships and adventures has developed in these aborigines
a surprising degree of sagacity, and those who are captured in their youth
and brought up in the domestic state readily learn everything they are taught.
They become skilful fishers, and as shepherds are most highly valued. But the
impulse is at times irresistible to forsake the abodes of civilised men, where they
had at least sufficient nutriment, and again resume their savage independence,
their nomad ways, and life of endless hardships. But, however wretched their
existence, they still possess a greater flow of spirits and vitality than their
neighbours, expending it in the dance, songs, and extempore recitals. They are
also artists, and on the rocky walls of their caves have in many places been
discovered life-like representations in red ochre, and even polychrome pictures of

112 SOUTH AND EAST AFlilCA.

animals, hunting scenes, and combats with the hated Boers. Thus a certain ideal
element has been developed in the lives of these lowly aborigines, whom the
surrounding peoples — Kafirs, Hottentots, Dutch, and English — thought themselves
till recently fully justified in hunting down like wild beasts. Their oral treasures
of fables, tales, and myths, never fail by their wealth and variety to excite the
wonder of all explorers in this interesting field of inquirj-.

Although distributed in scattered groups, without national cohesion of any
sort, the Bushmen manifest much sympathy for each other, cheerfully co-operating
together on all opportune occasions. After hunting in common, the division of the
prey is unattended by any wrangling, although no tribal chief presides over the
distribution. In fact, there is neither tribe nor chief in the strict sense of these
terms, the Bushmen possessing no political or social organisation of any kind ; and
although the family group is not regularly constituted, the sentiments of natural
affection are none the less highlj' developed. Formerly a man provided himself
with a temporary mate by the simple device of capturing the child, whose mother
never failed to come and share the lot of her offspring.

To judge from the fate of those belonging to the colony south of the Orange
River, the Bushmen would seem to be degtined soon to disappear ; for in
this region they have been hunted like wild beasts, and most of those who have
escaped extermination have taken refuge in the northern solitudes. Sparrmann
relates how the squatters lay in ambush, attracting (hem by the bait of an animal's
carcass left in the bush, and sparing neither man, woman, nor child, except
perhaps such as might serve to increase the number of their slaves. "Whenever
they caught sight of a Bushman, thej' fired at once, following up the chase with
their horses and dogs, pursuing him like any ordinary quarry. The very courage
of the Sans often proved fatal to them, for there is scarcely an instance recorded of
their forsaking their wounded and dead, preferring in all cases to remain and be
killed by their side.

North of the Orange River, on the frontiers of the Dutch republics and of
Bechuanaland, the Bushmen were hunted down in the same way ; but in the
Kalahari Desert, and farther north in the direction of the Zarabese, several San
communities have maintained their independence, and these do not appear to be
diminishing in number. In the Kerero and Namaqua territories there are from
four thousand to five thousand of these aborigines, and in the whole of Austral
Africa probably about fifty thousand altogether.

The Hottentots.

The Hottentots, who, on the arrival of the Europeans, occupied nearly all the
western part of the region now known as Cape Colon)', are here still numerous,
constituting, without the half-castes, about one-seventh of the whole population.
Their popular name appears to bo merely a term of contempt, meaning
" stammerer.s," or, as we should say, "jabberers," imposed on them by the early
Dutch and Frisian settlers, no doubt in consequence of their strange and unin-

TILE HOTTENTOTS.

113

telligible jargon. In the current language of the colony, ttis appellation has
been further reduced to the final syllable, " Tots." They have themselves no
general name for the whole race ; but the term Kho'in (" Men "), which occurs
in several of the tribal denominations, has been extended to all of them collec-
tively, and the Hottentots now commonly call themselves, or are called by
scientific writers, Khoi-khoi'n, that is, " Men of men," or " men " in a pre-eminent
sense.

Although touch taller than the southern Bushmen, and differing from them in
their relatively higher degree of social culture, the Hottentots still resemble them
in many respects. They have the same dirty yellowish complexion and the
same elongated shape of the head, while the women show the same, or rather a

Pig. 34. — Socth-Afeican Hottentot Tbibes ik the Middle op the Eighteenth Centuet.

Scale 1 : 15,000,000.

, 30O Miles.

more decided, tendency towards steatopygia, or the accumulation of fat in the
lower parts of the bodj'. Till recently they used the same bows and the same
poisoned arrows in the chase and tribal warfare. They have even the same
musical instruments, delight in smearing the body with the same colours and
decorating it with the same ornaments. Lastly, the language still current amongst
those who have not already laid it aside for English or Dutch is undoubtedly derived
from the same stock as that of the Bushmen. It is, however, much richer, more
pliant, and less encumbered with harsh sounds and uncouth forms of expression. It
possesses three fully inflected numbers and grammatical genders, and by agglu-
tinating its monosyllabic roots is even able to express abstract conceptions, as well
as many delicate shades of sentiment and thought. In the Bantu tongues words
are strung together in the sentence chiefly by means of prefixed pronominal
elements, whereas in Hottentot the same formative particles are invariablj'
attached to the end of the roots, so that this is essentially a " suffixed-pronominal "
language. It is divided into a considerable number of dialects, which are all
AFUUA IV. i

114 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

closely related, notwithstanding the wide area over which arc scattered the various
branches of (his ethnical family. Those spoken by the Namaquas appear to be
most free from foreign influences.

In the districts where the Hottentots have become assimilated in speech and
social usages to the European proletariate classes, they dwell in the so-called ax,
or hamlet, which the Dutch colonists call kran/ from the Portuguese airra', thai is,
a fold, pen, or cattle enclosure. These kraals are mere collections of spherical
or semicircular huts, which from a distance present the appearance of huge mush-
rooms clustering in circular groups on the grassy plain. They are constructed
compactly enough to keep out the rain, but serve no purpose except as a shelter
against the weather. Their occupants cannot even stand upright in them, the
ordinary elevation of the roof not exceeding four feet four inches.

The Hottentot costume consists mainly of a leathern apron, somewhat larger and
more ornamental for the women than for the men, and a sheepskin cloak worn with
the woolly side in or out according to the season. Amongst the rich this hiroxx,
as it is called, is embellished round the neck and shoulders with embroidery and
fur trimmings. The ordinary diet consists for the most part of milk and butler,
meat being eaten only on special occasions. But when they decide on a feast of
this sort they gorge themselves lo repletion, and then to aid digestion roll ou the
ground and go through a process of " massage." On their hunting or foraging
expeditions they provide themselves with wallets filled with meat, first dried and
then powdered. They are passionately fond of tobacco or hemp (i/ak/ia), the .smoke
of which is swallowed. But it sometimes happens that either to punisli themselves
for some fault or to render the fates propitious to their supplications, they condemn
themselves to abstain from these narcotics for a certain period. The flesh of the
hare, pig, and fowl is regarded by them as unclean.

Till recently verj' little time or attention was paid by the Hottentots to the
supernatural world, hence observers free from all prejudice on this subject could
franklj' assert that these aborigines had no religion at all. Nevertheless, they are
endowed with an extremelj' excitable nervous temperament, thanks to which the
Wcsleyan missionaries have often succeeded in throwing them into a frenzy of
religious excitement. According to Bleek, the still unconverted pagan Hottentots
recognise at least two supreme or higher beings, one of whom is perhaps a per-
sonification of the moon, for he dies and revives periodical!}'. Charms, amulets,
and fetishes, although rare, nevertheless do exist, and are associated for the most
part with the worship of the dead. **

The Hottentots attribute to their ancestry great power for good or for evil,
invoking them on all serious occasions. The term Tsu-Goab, adopted by the
missionaries as the nearest equivalent of the Christian " God," is probably the
name of some hero of the olden time handed down by tradition. Burials are per-
formed with much solemnity, and cairns, or heaps of stones, arc raised above the
tomb of the dead, who is usually deposited either in a cave or by preference in a
porcupine's lair. Thanks to those lofty cairns and to the prepared stone imple-
ments used by the Hottentots, explorers have been able to follow their migrations

THE nOTTENTOTS.

115

or their sojourn in various parts of the eastern provinces, which arc at present
occupied by Bantu immigrants from the north.

Each Hottentot tribe has its chief, at least beyond the limits of the British
possessions and Dutch republics. At the same time these' chiefs enjoy very little
power, and all weighty matters are debated in a general coimcil of the whole
communi'fj". lu these discussions even the young men take part, and their voice
often decides the point at issue. But in the European settlement all political

Fig. 35. — Hottentots, Kafim, and Be-Chtjanas.
Scale 1 : 18,000.000.

Last cF Grfeervw'tK

0 to 1,000
Fathoms.

iJepths.

1,000 to 1,600
Fathome.

1,600 to 2,C 00
Fathoms.

. 600 Miles.

2,000 Fathoms and
upwards.

organisation of the Hottentots has been completely abolished, and in the territory
of Cape Colony the last native chief was dej^osed in 1810 by the British adminis-
tration and replaced by a European magistrate. But even before that event all
the aborigines .subject to the direct action of the whites were no better than slaves.
They were subject to compulsory registration and forciblj' employed either in the
wars waged again.st their own kindred, or in constructing roads, bridges, and
other public works. Respect for their rights as freemen was not officially pro-

IIG SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

claimed by tlic British Government till the year 1828, and even this act of tardy
Justice was as a stumbling-block to a large section of the colonists, including all
the Boers, who regarded the emancipation of the despised Hottentots as an infringe-
ment of their own hereditary privileges, and a step fraught with danger to the
colony. Many even preferred to quit the country rather than continue to dwell
by the side of their former serfs now officially declared their equals.

But during their one hundred and fifty years' contact with the whites previous
to this proclamation how many Hottentot tribes had already been exterminated,
more even bj' the gun than by small-pox ! What has become of the Koranas,
who had their camping grounds on the shores of Table Bay when the first Euro-
pean colonists settled in the country, and of the Gri-kwas (Griquas), who encamped
farther north near St. Helena Bay? Many other tribal groups, such as the
Gauri, San, Atta, Haisse, Sussi, Dama, Dun, and Shirigri, have also disappeared,
leaving no memory behind them except the names given by them to their rivers
and mountains. And their murderers meantime assumed the role of agents of
destiny, almost as instruments of the Divine Will, declaring that these inferior
races were foredoomed to destruction, leaving their inheritance to " the chosen
people!" Even now the opinion prevails that, under a wise dispensation of
Providence, the Khoi-khoins are rapidly diminishing in numbers. But the wish
is here " father to the thought," for the assumption is amply refuted by the official
returns. Doubtless the aborigines seem to decrease, but only through the effect of
an optical illusion caused by the fact of the relatively far more rapid growth of the
white element. It should also be remembered that the change of social habits
gradually weans the natives from their rude ways, drawing them within the circle
of more refining influence, assimilating them in garb and speech to their Euro-
pean masters, to whose sentiments, religious views, and usages they daily more
adapt themselves.

Moreover, a large number of these aborigines, still refractory to the ever-
spreading English culture, have withdrawn northwards, thus retracing the steps
of their forefathers when they descended seawards from the inland regions, borne
along, says the national legend, " in a great pannier." In Namaqualand, and as
far north as the Herero territory, these Oerlams, or Hottentots from Cape Colony,
have often gained the political predominance. They have even followed in the
wake of the stream of Boer immigration to the neighbourhood of Humpata
beyond the Cunene.

At present organised tribal grChps, such as those of the Haw-Khoins and Nama-
quas, Griquas, and Koranas, arc found only in the region north of the Orange
River. Those residing in the settled European districts, although henceforth inter-
mingled with the general population, are nevertheless still classed apart in the census
returns. In 1798 the four districts of the Cape, Stellenbosch, Swellendam, and
Graaf-Reinet, which at that time constituted the whole of the colony, had only
13,000 Hottentots in a total population of 32,000. But in 1891 this element had
increased to 50,400 in the territory of Cape Colony, and at present (1899) the

CAPE COLONY. 11>

Hottentots, pure and mixed, are estimated at about 180,000, the great majority
being mongrels and half-breeds of all sorts, and generally of Dutch speech.

Those settled in the eastern districts are for the most part Gonaquas (Gona-
kwa), that is to say, " Borderers," the issue of crossings with the Kafirs. The
Griquas (Gri-kwa), who since the beginning of the present century have dwelt
north of the Orange, are most commonly designated by the name of " Bastaards,"
a name, however, which they themselves accept with pride as testifying to their
relationship with the whites. They are said on the whole to resemble their
Hottentot mothers far more than their European fathers. Since the beginning of
the century such alliances between Boers and natives have been legally forbidden,
their tendency being gradually to absorb the white in the yellow element.

In no African region have the Christian missionaries been more zealous and
more successful than in Cape Colony. So early as the j'car 1736 the Moravian
Brethren were already at work in the midst of the Hottentots, and since then some
fifteen other religious societies have sent their representatives by the hundred to
evangelise the same people, as well as their Bushman and Bechuana neighbours.
At present nearly 200,000 natives in Cape Colony, and about 350,000 in the whole
of Austral Africa south of the Zambese, profess the Christian religion.* The pre-
ponderance of the European element will certainly have the result of increasing
the intermingling of the races, and of causing a continually increasing number of
half-breeds to be classed with the whites. Thus Cape Colony contrasts favourably
with the British Australasian possessions, or at least with Tasmania, where the
English settlers solved the native question by the simple process of extermination.
In Austral Africa the aborigines, either more numerous or more energetic, have
been better able to defend themselves. The white intruders also, arrivins at
intervals in small groups, and belonging to various nations, differing in origin,
speech, and usages, have not been always in a position to apply themselves
methodically, like thofee of Tasmania, to make a clean sweep of the original owners
of the land. During the two hundred and fifty years of their political supremacy
they have gradually succeeded in accommodating themselves to the altered con-
ditions so far as to tolerate the existence of the original masters of the land, with
whom the whites of Dutch descent have even, to a certain extent, united to form
fresh ethnical groups of a somewhat degraded type.

* J. Carlyle, Smith Africa and iU Missionary Fields.

Ijp-^^s

''yr-j ( «W. I

CHAPTER IV.

CAPE COLONY AND ITS DEPENDENCIES.
The Cai'e, Griqua, Bechuana, Basuto, Kafir and Po>'do Lands.

APE COLONY extends officially over an area more than double as
large as that which it comiiriaed in 1870. But within its narrower
limits, south of the Orange River, it constitutes a well-marked
physical region, with perfectly distinct geographical outlines.
Occupying the southern extremity of the continent, it has for its
natural limits the ocean and the Orange River on three sides, while towards the
east it is separated from the British colony of Natal by the Umzlmkulu River,
flowing to the Indian Ocean, and farther inland by the section of the Drakenberg
Range, which skirts the east frontier of Basutoland. The region thus defined has
an area of 210,000 square miles, to which must bo added the trans-Orange provinces
of Griqualand "West and British Bechuanaland, making a total area of 270,000
square miles, with a collective population estimated in 1899 at about 1,775,000.

Over one hundred and fifty years ensued after the discovery of the Cape of
Good Hoije before any Europeans succeeded in obtaining a permanent footing in
the country. A few marines landed from time to time, but soon left again. In
1620 the English even took formal possession in the name of King James I., but
never followed up this act by any practical stops.

Robben Island, in Table Bay, which has since been nearly always a place of
banishment or a convict station, was also occasionally occupied by British or
Portuguese immigrants, either free settlers or exiles.

But the pioneers of colonisation at the southern extremity of the continent did
not present themselves till 1652. Van Riebeck, the first governor sent by the
" Dutch East India Company," Imded in that year with his family and about a
hundred soldiers at the foot of Table Mountain, where he immediately began to
build a fort. The first humble dwellings were grouped on the site where now rise
the buildings of Cape Town, and their occupants began forthwith to cultivate a few
fields and garden plots. Despite the great difficulties attending this first attempt
the Company succeeded in its main object, which was to facilitate the re-victualling
of Dutch vessels plying between Holland and the East Indies. The military station

HISTORIC EETEOSPECT. lib'

was gradually traneformod to a colonial settlement, and so early as 1654 some
orphans were sent out from Amsterdam in order to form the nucleus of a peasant
population. Soldiers and sailors left the service in order to till the land as free
" burghers," on the condition of selling their produce directly to the Company, and
abstaining from all trading relations with the Hottentots. Their numbers gradually
increased, and the rising city found itself in due course encircled by numerous
hamlets and farmsteads.

In some places the land was purchased, because the squatters felt themselves
still too weak to take it without allowing compensation. But once strong enough,
they simply dispossessed the Hottentots, or even seized both land and people, com-
pelling the latter to work as slaves. The natives, however, hitherto accustomed
only to tend their herds, and unacquainted with husbandry, could afford little help
to the Dutch farmers in cultivating their cornfields, vineyards, and orange-groves.
Hence they began to be replaced so early as 1658, when a first shipment of Negro
slaves was consigned to the Cape, and the number of these imported slaves soon
exceeded that of the freemen on the plantations. The consequence of this state of
things was the same in Austral Africa as in the tropical regions. Large domains
were constituted at the expense of the small freeholders, the whites learnt to look
upon labour as dishonourable, the immigration of free Europeans took place very
slowly, and the progress of the Colony was frequently arrested through the lack of
private enterprise and industrj'. The importation of the blacks, however, gradually
fell off during the course of the eighteenth centurj', and at the abolition of slavery in
1831 there were not more than 36,000 altogether to be emancipated. These Negro
freedmen have since then become entirely absorbed in the mass of the half-caste
population.

In 1680, that is to say twenty-eight years after the arrival of the first perma-
nent settlers, the European colony comprised six hundred souls, with the officials
and the soldiers recruited in Flanders, Denmark, and other parts of North Europe.
But these pioneers were soon joined by a fresh ethnical element. Some of the
French Protestants, in seeking new homes after the Revocation of the Edict of
Nantes, together with a few Waldenses from the Piedmontese Alpine valleys,
applied to the Dutch East India Compan}-, which sent them to its new possessions
at the Cape. Including women and childi-en they nimibercd about three himdrcd,
and in 1687 and 1688 reached the colony, where lands were assigned to them in
the iipland valleys round about the rising city. Others followed, and being for the
most part brave, energetic persons, who had faced exile and all manner of hard-
ships for conscience' sake, these French Huguenots took a large share in the
development of the Colony, and to them especially is due the successful introduc-
tion of vine-growing in South Africa.

The local annals record the names of ninety-five French families, some of
which have disappeared, whilst others have assumed Dutch forms. Thousands
and thousands of Boers are still proud to claim Huguenot descent, and the map of
South Africa, from the seaboard to the Limpopo valley, is covered with topo-
graphical names perpetuating their migrations northwards. The Boers of French

120 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

origin have increased at a relatively more rapid rate than the others, because they
urrivfd with their families, whereas most of the Dutch, being officials and soldiers,
were \mmarried, and formed alliances with the native women. From them are for
the most part descended the half-castes still known as Bastaards. Nevertheless the
French immigrants were not sufficiently numerous to preserve their mother-tongue
in the family circle, when, after 1724, its public use in the churches and schools
was forbidden by order of the Company. La Caille, who visited the colony in
1751, mot only very few Frenchmen still speaking the language of their fathers,
and in 1780 Levaillant found one only who still remembered it.

During the course of the eighteenth century the colony gradually spread east-
wards beyond the mountains. This movement took place in spite of the Company
itself, which desired the Cape settlement to remain nothing but a port of call and
a provisioning station, and in opposition to the governors, who, jealous of their
prerogatives, wished all the colonists to remain directly subject to their control,
and enslaved to the irksome rules of a severe administration and absurd routine.
Edicts were frequently issued forbidding the squatters to quit the lands that had
been assigned to them and penetrate farther inland, " under pain of capital punish-
ment, and even death, with confiscation of their property." But such decrees could
not be enforced in the absence of garrisons, forts, or clearly defined frontiers
towards the Hottentot tcrritorj- ; hence the Boers continued their irckken — that is
their onward movement from station to station — with their families, slaves, and
herds. This advance, which is even still continued away to the north beyond the
Cunene river, had already become irresistible, and the Cape Government was soon
compelled, in spite of itself, to proclaim the annexation of extensive territories.
In 174.5 the official frontier of the colony was the Gamtoos River, but in 178G its
limits were already extended to the Great Fish River. It had thus absorbed the
Hottentot domain and reached the Kafir country, where the Boers, themselves
more numerous and better equipped for war, also came into collision with more
compact and more formidable hostile bands.

But the British Government was already planning the conquest of Cape
Colony, that central station on the ocean highway which had become indispensable
to secure for the East India Company the permanent possession of the Indian
peninsula. In 1780 an English fleet sailed for the Cape of Good Hope, in order
to surprise the fort and capture its garrison. But it was itself surprised by a
French squadron commanded by SufEren, who, after defeating the English near
the Cape Verd archipelago, landed two thousand French troops at Simon's Bay to
reinforce their Dutch allies. But although foiled in this attempt, they took
advantage of the next opportunity in 1795, when the French revolutionists having
seized Holland the Boers settled in the interior of the colony proclaimed their
independence. An English fleet thereupon again sailed for the Cape, in order to
restore order in the name of the Prince of Orange and occupj' the colony in the
name of the King of England. This was the beginning of a new political adminis-
tration in Austral Africa, which still persists. Apart from a brief interruption of
three years, caused by the peace of Amiens, Cape Colony has since then never

{

mSTOEIC EETEOSPECT. 121

ceased to form part of the British Empire, slowly but steadily increasing from year
to year in population and prosperitj'.

"When the country passed under the sway of England, it contained about
twenty-five thousand Europeans, who held absolute control over nearly twenty
thousand Hottentot serfs and thirty thousand Negro slaves. All the colonists,
•whether^of Dutch or French descent, regarded themselves as collectively forming a
single nationality, thanks to the universal adoption of the Dutch language as the
common medium of intercourse. Immigrants of English speech were verj' few at
first, and for some years almost the only British residents in the countrv were the
officials and military. Nevertheless the English governors were already contem-
plating the denationalisation of the Boers, and so earh' as 1809 an official procla-
mation recommended the study of the English language, although Dutch was still
mainly used in the courts of justice.

The descendants of the old colonists still continued to regard themselves as the
real masters of the land, and consequently paid little or no attention to the decrees
issued from time to time by the colonial governors. In 1815 they even broke
into open revolt, which, however, was quelled with remorseless severity. No
serious attemjDts were made to promote British immigration till the year 1820,
when subventions began to be voted for this purpose by the Imperial Parliament.
Nearly ninety thousand persons had already agreed to accept allotments of the
lands successively annexed during the frontier wars with the Kafirs. Out of
this large number of applicants the emigration agents made choice of over four
thousand colonists, and these were transported by the Government, at the public
expense, to Port Elizabeth, in Algoa Bay, with the intention of settling them in
the interior, round about Graham's Town. Notwithstanding the inexperience of
most of the new arrivals in agricultural matters, and the blunders of all kinds
inseparable from such a large undertaking, the project succeeded, thanks especially
to the excellency of the climate and the fertility of the soil. The English settle-
ment increased rapidly, and spread far beyond the limits to which it had been
originally restricted.

By the side of a Dutch Africa in the west there was thus developed an English
in the east, which, thanks to the support of the Home Government, soon became
almost as powerful as its rival, and which it was often proposed to constitute a
special and privileged division. Henceforth the two languages divided the terri-
tory between them, and the colonial administrators naturally strove to secure the
preponderance for their own kindred. The Dutch rulers had interdicted the
official use of French ; the English in their turn prohibited, or at least discounte-
nanced, the use of Dutch. In 1825 English became the official language of the
administration, and in 1827 that of the courts of justice. But later, after the
constitution of the Colonial Parliament, the inhabitants of Dutch speech recovered
the legal rights and status of their tongue, and since that time their deputies
make use of this idiom in the discussion of public affairs in the Assembly'.

Nor is this all. The military succesees of the Transvaal Boers have given a
certain political prestige to those of Cape Colony itself. Hence the Afrikan-

\ii2 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

dcrs, that is to say, the European natives of Dutch origin, who in South Africa
number certainly more than half of all the whites, have formed a powerful
political organisation, which has been accused of stirring up racial hatred,
and of aiming at the substitution of Dutch for British supremacj' in South Africa.
In any case it is evident that the Dutch Afrikanders, nearly all related by ties of
blood, from Table Bay to the Limpopo, form a large family group, possessing a
strong sense of national cohesion. It was the sympathy of their friends and kin-
dred in Cape Colony, more, perhaps, than the pusillanimity of the Gladstoniau
Administration, that secured for the Transvaal Boers the recovery of their
political independence in 1881.

This same solidarity of sentiment between the northern and southern Afrikan-
ders will certainly secure full recognition of their just claims to consideration,
when the time comes for giving cifect to the scheme now being matured for the
union of all the British and Dutch States in one South African Dominion, under
the sovereignty of the Queen of England. But notwithstanding the increasing
political influence of the Afrikander, the somewhat rude local Dutch dialect,
although far more widely spread amongst the aborigines, is ycarl}' losing much of
its relative influence in the intellectual development of the inhabitants of Cape
Colony.

This point has been made more and more evident «ince the middle of the
century, by the constantly increasing disparity between the periodical publications
of the two rival languages. In the year 1896 the English publications were
already seven times more numerous than those addressed to the Dutch reading
public.

The inevitable result must be, that the Afrikanders will at first become bilingual,
then gradually cease to speak or cultivate the language of their forefathers, no longer
of any use for the intellectual progress of the people. Effect will thus be given to the
tendencj' of dominant races to absorb discordant elements, wuich must here ulti-
mately become merged in a single British nationality, one in speech, usages, free
institutions, and intellectual culture. The process of fusion will probably be
accelerated by the break up of the effete oligarchic system of government in the
two Boer States after the war of 1809.

The emigration of the Boers towards the northern republics, coinciding with
the immigration of fresh colonists from Great Britain, already increased for a
time the ascendency of the British element in the territory of the Cape. The great
irel:, or exodus, of the Boers towards the regions stretching north of the Orange
River began about the j-ear 1834, that is, when slavery was officially abolished in
the English possessions. Deprived of the labour of their black slaves, compen-
sation for whom was allowed at not more than two-fifths of their market value,
the Dutch peasantry directed their steps towards the northern solitudes, where
they hoped to rule, without let or hindrance, over their "live stock " of men and
beasts. Many thousands settled in the Gamtoos and Great Fisb Eivcr basins,
voluntarily forsook extensive tracts of pasture and arable lands, which after their
departure were occupied by English settlers.

But towards the eastern frontier these settlers had themselves to contend with

THE KAFIE WAES.

123

tlieir Kafir neighbours, whose domain they were gradually encroaching upon. On
both sides predatory expeditions and cattle-Hfting raids were incessant ; but
towards the close of 1834, the year of the great trek, these troubles broke out
into a general war. The English were not prepared for the organised attack of a
whole nation. In the course of a few weeks all the eastern border lands were
overrun, the farmsteads given to the iiames, the herds captured to the number of
about two hundred and fifty thousand, and all the squatters either driven west or
overtaken and massacred. Governor d' Urban thereupon summoned all available

Fig. 36. — Abohigin-es iNU Colonists, 1899.
Scale 1 : IS.OOO.OOO.

La^^ nf LTTeenwicK

^:^: j Over 20 inhabitants to the square mile.
_^^^__.^^^^_ 300 Miles.

forces, and fell with irresistible fury on the invaders. A terrible retribution over-
took them, and a new strip of territory was annexed to the colony. Nevertheless
the natives had on many occasions been treated with such flagrant injustice that
the British Minister, yielding to the pressure of public opinion, refused to sanction
the repressive and other measures adopted by the Colonial Government. With a
candour rare in the history of Cabinet administration, he* even declared that the
Kafirs had ample justification for their conduct during the war, that they were in
their perfect right in endeavouring to resist the encroachments of their neigh-
bours, and in procuring by force the reparation they were unable to obtain by
other means, and that the conquered, not the conquerors, were in the right in the
first instance.

124

SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

The tcrriforj' taken from the Kiifirs was accordinfjly restored to them, but only
for a time. The policy of encroachment, incursions, cattle-lifting, seizure of
pasturages and arable lands, was resumed in the debatable border country, and in
18tG the war broke out again owing to some sanguinarj' deeds connected with tho
theft of an axe. This " war of the axe," as it was called, began badly for tho
colonists ; but after two years of campuigns, battles, and massacres, thy native
tribes were compelled to sue for mercy, which brought about a fresh rectification
of the frontier. The British territory was enlarged by the annexation of the
district, some 120 miles broad, which lies between the Great Fish Ilivcr and tho
Kei. Nevertheless, the eastern purl of this new acquisition, to the west of tho

Fig. 37. — SuccESsryE Beitisu An>'exation3 in Sonn AfiacA.

Sc;Ie 1 : 20,000,000.

. 30 Miles.

Keiskamma, was provisionalh' left in the hands of the natives under the suzerainty
of the J5ritish Government. But the truce lasted only two years. In 1850 the
military stations established along the frontier were attacked by the Kafirs, in
consequence of an outrage committed at a native burial by the English soldiers.
These were at first coiupelled to evacuate the contested territorj', and it took
two years more of fierce warfare before the claims of England could be enforced.
But henceforth all further resistance on the part of the natives became impos-
sible.

Then occurred one of the most extraordinary events recorded in the annals of
any nation. Feeling themselves powerless to prevail by natural means over the
invaders of their country, the Kafirs, seized by a sort of collective folly, fancied

CAPE TOWN. 125

they might succeed bj' the aid of the supernatural. The arms of the li\'ing being
impotent, they thought thej' could rely on those of the dead. Mhlakaza, a native
prophet, traversed the land, announcing to his Ama-Khosa fellow-tribesmen that
the time was drawing near when all their departed warriors, all the renowned
heroes of their legendary history, would rise from the grave, and that they them-
selves would on that grand occasion be transfigured, and again become young,
beautiful, strong, and invincible. But in order to prepare for victory they were
required to give a proof of their unshaken faith by sacrificing all they possessed
except their arms. They had to slaughter their cattle, burn their granaries, let
their fields lie fallow, and strip themselves of everything, awaiting the hour of the
signal to rise. Then the slaughtered herds would suddenly reappear, but finer
and more numerous than ever, and the plains would be covered by magnificent
crops.

Most of the Ama-Khosas had implicit faith in the words of the prophet. They
slew their cattle and fired their stores of corn, while at the same time preparing
vast pens and barns for their future treasures. Thousands of these deluded
victims, twenty-five thousand according to some writers, fifty thousand, or one
third of the Ama-Khosa nation, according to others, actually perished of inanition
while awaiting the promised day of redemption. But that day never came, and
then despair took possession of the survivors. Their bravest warriors became
crest-fallen mendicants, and their love of freedom, their very manhood, was
broken for ever. Soon the depopulated land invited fresh occupants, and the
Cape Government introduced over two thousand German immigrants into the
vacant territor}-, which was now definitely annexed to Cape Colony as far as the
river Kei. From this time the progress of conquest was never seriously arrested ;
only the annexations were henceforth peacefully effected, and by the absorption
of Pondoland, last of the independent Kafir States, the eastern frontiers o.f Cape
Colony were extended to Natal in 1894.

Topography op Cape Colony.

Cape Town, capital of the Colony and of all South Africa, is the oldest city
founded by Europeans south of Benguella. But without having yet become a verj-
large place, it has long outstripped in size and importance the towns previously
founded by the Portuguese on the West African seaboard. Seen from the water
Cape Town presents an imposing appearance, thanks to the superb amphitheatre
of hills encircling it, and especially to the striking aspect of Table Mountain, which
forms such a conspicuous feature in the surrounding landscape.

West of the city the promontory of the Lion Mountain projects far seawards,
sheltering tho roadstead from the heavy swell rolling in from the Southern Ocean.
Here are constructed the pier, the quays, and other harbour works, and here lies tho
spacious basin which affords ample accommodation for the shipping. The city,
disposed in regular squares by broad thoroughfares, slopes gently towards the roots of

126

SOUTH AND EAST A1'"III0A.

the mountain, wliilp ihc first hciglits arc dotted over with pleasant villas and detached
residences. Eastwards, in the midst of an extensive plain which was formerly a
morass on which the first settlers erected their little stronghold, now stand the low
buildings of the " Castle," property of the English Government and symbol
of British supremacy in Austral Africa. Still fai'ther cast the bay is skirted by a
suburban district which stretches as fur as the broad estuary of the tortwus Salt

Fig. 38.— Cate Tow.v i.\ 1S88.
Scale 1 : 126,000.

18°e2-

Ea^t ei >. V- ..

i'sf.

0 to 10
Feet.

Depths.

18 to 32
Feet.

C4 Feet find
upwards.

."(..lOO Yards.

River. The city is everywhere encircled by fine gardens and parks, which pene-
trate into the glens of the mountain. In 1887 a beginning was made with a
system of defensive works, which have already converted the stronghold of Cape
Town into a second Gibraltar.

In the hands of its English masters Cape Town has preserved but few
reminiscences of the Dutch epoch. The chief thoroughfare is no longer supple-

►J
■<

55
O

a.
-<;

iiillliiiiijittiiiillilillpiliii

CAPE TOWN. 127

mcnted by a canal lined with trees, like the avenues of Amsterdam. Nevertheless
the features, speech, and family names of about one-half of the European inha-
bitants betray their Dutch origin. Interaiingled with the white population are
peoples of every shade, blacks descended from old Negro slaves, Hottentots, Kafirs,
Malaj's, presenting every transition from dark brown and black to brick red and
yellow, besides greyish Bastaards and bronze or swarthy half-caste immigrants from
St. Helena. Amongst the Malays, descendants of the servile class formerly
introduced by the Dutch frr^ra the Eastern Archipelago, some still wear the turban
and long flowing garments Thus are distinguished the Haji, or Mecca pilgrims,
who look with scorn on the multitude of " infidels," regarding all alike of whatever
race as more " Kafirs."

Constituting the chief centre for the diffusion of civilisation throughout Austral
Africa, Cape Town is endowed with several literary and scientific institutions,
including a museum, a valuable library with a complete collection of works
relating to the colony, besides many rare books and manuscripts, and a botanic
garden nearly fifteen acres in extent, where may be seen specimens of all the
native flora and thousands of exotics. Owing to its position near the southern
extremity of the African continent. Cape Town is one of the most important
stations on the surface of the globe for geodetic studies. So early as 1685 the
French astronomers erected on this spot a temporary post for the observation of
the southern constellations. In 1751 La Caille here carried out his memorable
researches for the measurement of a degree of the meridian and for determining
the lunar parallax. These studies were resumed by the English astronomers in
1772, at the time of Cook's second expedition. At the Cape Observatory, Maclcar
and Ilerschell drew up the catalogue of the stars of the Antarctic heavens, and at
present the preliminary steps have been taken for the triangulation of the coast-
lands on the plateaux of the Karroos and beyond the Orange in Bechuanaland and
thence to the Zambese. It is the intention of the eminent astronomer, Mr. Gill,
thus gradually to secure the measurement of the meridian of Africa from the
shores of the Southern Ocean to the port of Alexandria on the Mediterranean.
Tho present Observatory, already so rich in scientific memories, is situated at
Mowbrai/, three miles to the east of the capital.

Although connected by railways with the eastern districts, with the Dutch
republics and Ehodesia, and enjoying the advantage over other seaports of lying
neurer to Europe, Cape Town is not the chief centre of the foreign trade of South
Africa. In this respect it is still surpassed by Port Elizabeth, the flourishing
emporium on Algoa Bay, which at the middle of the present century was still a
mere group of hovels, but which is conveniently situated in the neighbourhood of
the most productive agricultural districts, and at the seaward terminus of the
thortest routes leading to the diamond and gold fields of the interior. Neverthe-
less, Cape Town, thanks to its comparatively large population, to its position as
political capital, and to the advantages of its harbour, has maintained a high place
amongst the African seaports. Ilcre are shipped large quantities of wool, as well
as the choicest South African wines, grown on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain.

128 SOUTH AND EAST Al-'RICA.

Amid the surrounding vallej-s arc scattered numerous suburban residences and
rural hamlets chiefly occupied by the wealthy traders and officials, who seldom
visit the capital except for business purposes. In summer nearly the whole of the
white population with their domestic servants betake themselves to the watering-
places and the slopes of the hills, and at this season the traffic on the suburban
railways reminds the traveller of the movement in the neighbourhood of i*hc great
European cities. North of Cape Town lies the village of Sea-poiiit with its villas
fringing the surf-beaten beach. Eastwards the capital is continued by a succession
of hamlets encircling the Devil's Peak and stretching away for nearly twenty miles
in the direction of the Kalk Bay seaside resort.

In the charming valley which connects the two bays, and which is flanked on
the west by the superb rocky walls of Table Mountain, lies the picturesque little
village of Wijnbcrg, a delightful group of residences nestling in the shade of oaks
and pine groves. In the neighbourhood but more to the south is the estate of
Constantia, which has given its name to the most esteemed vintage in South Africa.
Towards the south are seen the irregular outlines of False Bay, one of whose western
inlets, Simon's Bay, reflects in its clear waters the settlement of Simon's Toirn, a naval
station and fortified arsenal of the first rank, for the enlargement and strengthening
of which £2,500,000 were voted by the Imperial Parliament in 1899. Simon's
Town occupies one of the finest sites in Austral Africa, on the headland at the
southern extremity of which stands the lighthouse of the Cape of Good Hope.

A few other groups of habitations belonging to the district of Cape Town arc
scattered amid the glens on the Atlantic slope of the hills which bound the eastern
horizon of Table Bay. Stellenbosch, which is connected by rail with the capital, is
next to the capital itself the oldest settlement in the colony. In the vicinity, and
especiallj' in the amphitheatre of hills still known as the Fransche Hoek, or " French
Quarter," most of the Huguenot refugees established themselves towards the close
of the seventeenth century, and this " Athens " of South Africa has always been a
centre of intellectual progress. Paarl, a village which straggles for a distance of
seven miles along the highway at the foot of the Draken-steen hills, also dates
from the early days of colonisation. The gardens, orange-groves, and woodlands
encircling this "Pearl," as it is called, from a block of granite surmounting a rocky
pedestal like a gem on a diadem, render it a charming retreat during the summer
months. The surrounding country forms the most extensive wine-growing district
in Cape Colony.

Farther north lies the picturesque little town of Wellington, beyond which the
railway penetrating inland describes a great bend round to the cast, passing through
a depression in the Atlantic coast range into the valley of the Breede River, which
flows to the Southern Ocean. Paarl and Wellington lie in the upper basin of the
Great Berg, which, after collecting numerous affluents from the fertile districts of
Tulbagh and the "Twenty-four Rivers," reaches the Atlantic at St. Helena Bay.
South of the promontory which forms the southern limit of this storm-tossed g\ilf,
lies the bay or landlocked inlet of Saldanha, so called from a Portuguese admiral
whose name was formerly applied to Table Bay. It was in the neighbourhood of

SALDANHA BAY.

129

this basin that Vasco de Gama was wounded by the Hottentots in 1497, and
Francisco d' Almeida massacred with all his followers in 1508. The baj-, which
is of easy access, is very deep, and is broken into several secondary basins, sheltered
by intervening granite headlands, and presenting excellent anchorage to shipping.

Fig. 39. — Sau)anha Bay.
Scale 1 : 360,000.

^ V^V.^JJiir^y ^ ^

Cast of bree^^A

I7°55

Depths.

Sands exposed at
low water.

0 to 32

Feet.

32 to 64
Feet.

64 to 160
Feet.

160 to 320
Feet. .

320 Feet and
upwards.

. 6 MUes

Yet this admirable haven, which the Dutch had made their chief naval station and
the centre of the postal communications between the United Provinces and their
East Indian possessions, has now been almost abandoned. Little is seen on its
deserted shores beyond a few isolated farmsteads and fishing stations. In the

AFRICA IV, fc

180 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

vicinity there is not a single village, and Malmcshunj, the nearest town, lies over
30 miles to the south-east, in a fertile wheat-growing inland district. The supe-
rior attractions of the capital have withdrawn all traffic from Saldanha Bay.

North of the valley of the Great Berg, the mostly barren and arid plains stretch-
ing northwards to Little Namaqualand are very thinly peopled. Even the capitals
of districts, Piqudbcrg, Clamcillium, the " furnace " of the Cape, and Cahinia, are
mere A'illages, where the stock-breeders of the surrounding pasturages come to
renew their supply of provisions. Calvinia, standing over 3,000 feet above the
sea, in an upland valley between the Hantam and Boggeveld ranges, is still
connected by a good highway with the civilised regions of the Cape. But farther
north stretch the vast solitudes of Bushmanland, whose only inhabitants are a
few groups of Sans scattered roimd the lagoons. The district of Little Namaqua-
land, which occupies the north-west corner of Cape Colony, between the Atlantic
and the course of the Lower Orange, would also be left to the aboriginal popula-
tions but for the great abundance of copper ores in the hilly districts. In the
neighbourhood of the Vogel-Klip ("Bird-Cliff"), the culminating point of these
highlands (3,100 feet), an English company owning a territory 135,000 acres in
extent has been working the " inexhaustible " mines of Ooldep since the j'ear 1863.
This source alone has yielded an annual supply of from ten to twenty thousand tons
of ores containing about three-tenths of pure copper, more fusible than that of Chili.
The great pit, already sunk to a depth of over 500 feet, has reached formations still
more productive than those of the surface. The mines are worked by several hun-
dred natives, Hottentots and Hereros, under the direction of English engineers
from Cornwall and Germans from Thuringia. Although lying 3,200 feet above
the sea, Ookiep is connected with the coast by a horse or mule railway 90 miles
long. The little haven of Port Nolloth, where the ore is shipped, was formerly
much frequented by American whalers.

East of the Cape and of False Bay the territory stretching south of the coast
range towards Cape Agulhas, southern extremity of the continent, is a region of
pasture-lands containing only two imimportant little towns, Caledon and Bredan-
clorp. But the basin of the Breede River is more thickly peopled, thanks to the
greater abundance of its rainfall. Worcester, capital of the Upper Valley, whose
hcadstreams have their source to the north of the coast range, lies on the main
line connecting Cape Town with Kimberley, and here the railway begins to ascend
in order to reach the inland plateaux. Penetrating through a lateral valley
traversed by the river Hex (" Witch Eiver "), it rises by a series of curves to the
crest of the terraces which skirt the plains of Worcester. Here it attains an
elevation of 2,000 feet, and reaches its highest point (3,600 feet) 74 miles to the
north-west of Worcester. A copious thermal spring rises in the ^^cinity of this
place, and lower down the Breede flows successively by the towns of Robertson
and Sn-eUcndam, the latter one of the oldest settlements in the colony, having been
founded so early as the middle of the eighteenth century. Avenues of oaks
radiate in various directions from the town towards the kloofs or wild gorges
which penetrate into the heart of the mountains. The village of Port Beaufort,

BEAUFORT WEST.

131

situated on the left bank of tte Breede, above the bar, is visited by a few small
coasting vessels. But of all the havens officially opened to the foreign trade of
the colony, Port Beaufort is the least frequented.

The extensive basin of the Gaurits, which follows to the east of the Breede
Valley, contains several of the secondary towns of Cape Colony. Beaufort West,
the chief station on the railway between the Cape and the banks of the Orange
, River, stands at an altitude of 2,960 feet above sea-level, and its gardens are
watered by the farthest headstreams of the Gaurits, flowing from the southern
slopes of the Nieuwe-veld. The village of Prince Albert, in the arid region of
the Great Karroo, lies also on one of the upper affluents of the Gaurits. Farthei'

Fig. 40. — Mouth of the Beeedb — Poet Beaitfoet.

Scale 1 : 500.000.

-ast of" G'-

?0"5O

&J'5^-

Deptts.

0 to 160
Fet't.

160 Feet and
upwards.

___ 12 Miles.

south, and on tributaries of the same river, lie the towns of Ladi/smith and Oudt-
nhoorn, both at the southern foot of the Zwarte-bergen, or "Black Mountains."
Oudtshoorn is noted for its tobacco, which grows on some of the best soil in the
colony, a soil still unexhausted after a hundred years of iminterrupted tillage.
North of this place, in an upland lateral valley, are situated the caves of Caiiflo,
stalactite grottoes that have not yet been entirely explored, although surveyed for
a distance of over 2,000 yards from the entrance.

There are neither towns nor even large villages on the lower Gaurits, which
in this part of its course winds between narrow rocky gorges. Riversdale, lying
in the midst of the rich grazing-grounds of the Grasveld, is situated some 30

k 2

182 SOUTH .VND EAST .VFRICA.

miles to the west of the main stream, in a vallej' whose waters flow directly to the
sea. Aliwal South, the maritime port of this pastoral region, stands on the west
side of Mosscl Bay, at the root of the rocky headland of Capo St. Blaise, by
which it is sheltered from the fierce southern winds. Aliwal South does a con-
siderable import and export trade, ranking fourth in this respect amongst the
colonial seaports. ,

Farther east along the seaboard follow several little towns, all lying at the
foot of the coast range, which Trollopc compares to the "Western Pyrenees, and
which, according to this writer, presents the finest sites in the whole of Austral
Africa. Here the pleasant little town of George is embowered in verdure ; Meh-ille
is mirrored in the aui-iferous waters of the Knysna, which flows from the forest-clad
Uteniqua Hills, and reaches the sea through a deep estuary accessible to large
vessels ; Uumansdorp occupies a picturesque position in an amphitheatre of thickly
wooded heights. Uniondale and Willotrmore, the two chief j^laces in the district,
are both situated in romantic valleys on the northern or inland side of the coast
ranges. Farther north, in the arid zone of the Karroo, but still on the slope
draining to the Southern Ocean, the two administrative centres are Aberdeen and
Murr(iij>ibur<j.

The basin of the Sunday River, although one of the least extensive, is one of
the best cultivated and most productive in the colony. It owes its prosperity to
its position in the relatively moist zone facing towards the Indian Ocean, and to
the two trade routes traversing it, one in the direction of the Orange River and
the Dutch republics, the other towards the territory of the Kafirs. Here Graaf-
Reinet, a Dutch settlement, over a hundred years old, is laid out like a chessboard
about the headwaters of the river, which here ramifies into several branches
flowing through the surroimding fields and gardens. To the contrast presented
by this smiling valley with the arid plateaux to the west, Graaf-Reinet is indebted
for its title of " Gem of the Desert."

As indicated by their names, Janscnville and Uitenhage, which follow to the
south along the road to Port EHzabeth, were founded by the Dutch. But Uiten-
hage has completely acquired the aspect of an English settlement since the j'ear
1820, when it received a large number of British colonists. Of late years it has
become a favourite place of residence for traders and dealers who have retired
from business, and on festive occasions it is -i-isitcd by a large number of pleasure-
seekers, who delight in the shady walks b\' its running waters. But Uitenhage
is also an industrial centre. In the numerous little miUs scattered amid the
surrounding glens, busy hands, nearly all Kafirs, are employed in cleansing by
machinery the enormous quantities of wool brought from the extensive sheep
farms in the eastern parts of the colon}^

Tort Elizabeth, which lies 20 miles to the south-east of Uitenhage, on the west
side of Algoa Bay, although dating only from the j'ear 1820, has already become
the most animated seaport in the whole of South Africa. "Within a single genera-
tion it outstri^jped Cape Town in commercial importance, notwithstanding the
disadvantages of its open roadstead compared with the more favourable position

POET ELIZxVBETH.

133

of Table Bay. Few sailing vessels, however, venture to visit its port, and nearly
all its trade is carried on by steamers, many of which sail directly for England
without even calling at Cape Town. It is still inferior in population to the capital,
but boasts of possessing finer buildings, of being better administered and more
abundantly provided with the resources of modern civilisation. In the colony it
is pre-eniinently the EngKsh city, and on the least occasion its inhabitants make

41. — Poet Elizabeth.
Scale 1 : 130,000.

e5'56-

ts^inr Greenwich

Depths.

Bands exposed at
low water.

Oto 16
Feet.

16 to 32
Feet.

32 to 80
Feet.

80 Feet and
upwards.

, 3 Miles.

it a point of honour to display their loyalty for the mother country in the most
enthusiastic manner.

Port Elizabeth covers a considerable space on a gently sloping hill, at the
foot of which its main thoroughfare rims for nearly 3 miles parallel with the
beach. Its growing suburbs stretch along the roads leading inland, while beyond
the upper town a bare plateau is covered by the tents of the " location," or native

134 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

quarter, inhabited chiefly by Kafirs, temporary immigrants who seek employment
amongst the shipping and on the harbour works. Till recently suffering from a
dearth of water. Port Elizabeth was unable to maintain any garden plots about
its villas. But an aqueduct about 30 miles long now brings a constant supply,
thanks to which a rich carpet of verdure already clothes the plateau. The
botanic garden has assumed a magnificent aspect, and umbrageous parklands
contrast by their bright foliage with the patches of parched herbage visible
wherever the irrigating waters are unavailable.

The trade of Port Elizabeth, which in recent years has suffered much from
reckless speculation, consists for the most part in wool and ostrich plumes,
forwarded in exchange for English manufactured goods of all kinds. The road-
stead of Algoa Bay is sheltered in the neighbourhood of the town by the extremity
of the headland which still bears the Portuguese name of Cape Recife. But
during the summer months, from October to April, when the southern and south-
eastern winds normally prevail, the surf beats fuiiously on the beach, endangering
the vessels riding at anchor in the roadstead. The breakwater, little over 300
yards long, affords shelter only to the smaller craft of light draught. A few islets
and reefs are scattered over the bay ; Santa-Cruz, one of these islands, over which
hover clouds of aquatic birds, was visited by Bartholomew Diaz during his
memorable voyage of discovery round the southern extremity of the continent.
On this spot, the first ever touched by a European foot on the shores of the
Southern Ocean, he erected the pillar of Sam Gregorio, to indicate that he had
occupied it on behalf of the King of Portugal. Santa-Cruz is also known by the
name of Fountain Rock, from two springs welling up on the surface.

Port Elizabeth communicates with the interior by means of two railwaj's, one
running to Graaf-Reiuet, the other a far more important line, which branches off
in one direction towards the regions beyond the Orange River, in another towards
Ch'aham's Totcn and Kafirland. Although smaller and of less commercial import-
ance than Port Elizabeth, Graham's Towti takes precedence as the chief political
centre east of Cape Town. It is the capital and residence of the principal
administrative, judicial, and religious authorities of the eastern districts, and
Graham's Town was already indicated as the future metropolis of the confederate
states in the year 1878, when the question was first seriously mooted of consoli-
dating the power of the mother country by uniting the British colonies and
Dutch republics in a single dominion. But this ambitious town has the disadvan-
tage of lying at some distance from the coast, and even from any large river. It
stands 1740 feet above the sea in a cirque surrounded by bare escarpments; but
the general lack of large vegetation has been relieved by planting trees along all
the avenues of the city. It is a clean, well-built, cheerful place, and thanks to the
moderate summer heats and generally equable climate of the district, is distin-
guished for its salubrity even amongst the colonial towns, most of which are so
highly favoured in this respect. Hence many invalids settle here in the hope
of recovering their health, or at least prolonging their days.

Founded in 1812, Graham's Town continued to be an obscure provincial town

'^''TTV'M"'"'^

X
H

POET ALFRED.— FORT BEAUFORT. iS5

till the epoch of the great English immigration in 1820, when it became the chief
centre of the operations in the Kafir wars, often serving as a place of refuge for
the colonists settled on the eastern frontier. Now it is no longer threatened by
hostile natives, its barracks have been abandoned by the military and adapted to
the purposes of the civil administration, and the Kafirs of the neighbourhood have
become peaceful labourers or industrious artisans. The white population of the
town and surrounding district, of whom the great majority are of British descent,
were formerly^ occupied chiefly with sheep-farming. But the region known as the
Zuur-veld only produces a sour grass which is badly suited for sheep, and these
have consequently in many districts been replaced by ostriches. Here ostrich-
farming and the preparation of the feathers for the European market have
succeeded better than in any other place where this industry has been established.

Hitherto dependent on Port EKzabeth for its foreign trade, Graham's Town
has recently endeavoured to secure an outlet for itself. At the mouth of the
little river Kowie, the nearest point on the coast, extensive works have been
undertaken to get rid of the bar and establish convenient landing-stages and
depots. Vessels drawing from 8 to 9 feet of water can already enter the estuary
and discharge their cargoes at the quays of Port Alfred, the new harbour, which
is connected with Graham's Town bj' a railway running through the agricultural
town of Bathiirst. The neighbouring beach is much frequented in summer as a
favourite watering-place. The promontory visible to the west, and bounding the
east side of Algoa Bay, bears the name of Point Padrone, doubtless because here
the Portuguese formerly raised a padriio, or memorial stone, as on so many other
headlands along this seaboard. Near Cape Padrone lies the modern village of
Alexandria.

The basin of the Great Fish River, which winds to the east of the Graham's
Town heights, has its farther sources on the southern slope of the main northern
range, near the southernmost point reached by the Orange River, and is divided
into several electoral districts. Middlehurri, on an upper affluent of the river, lies
already on the incline by which the Port-Elizabeth railway creeps up the escarp-
ment in order to cross the range into the Orange basin through the Bosworth
Pass, which stands at a height of 5,200 feet, greater than that of many an Alpine
railway. Cradock, on the main stream itself, and Tarka-stad, on one of its
tributaries, are important centres of the colonial wool trade. In the neighbouring
district still survive in the wild state a few groups of quaggas, which are nov
protected by the game laws.

Somerset and Bedford are also agricultural centres, while Fort Beaufort has
preserved something of its original miKtarj- aspect. As an advanced outpost
towards the Kafir country, it bravely withstood the repeated assaults of the
hostile natives in 1851. The district which stretches northwards along the
southern slope of the Elandsberg and now called Stockenstrom, was formerly
known as the Kat River Colony, which before the war of 1851 had been exclusively
reserved for the Hottentots. But the land being fertile and well watered by the
Kat River, the whites soon found the usual pretexts for occupying it, and the

186 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

little town of Seymour has already been founded by the English settlers in the
centre of the old Hottentot Reserve. Farther south Lovcdah, centre of schools
and missions, and Alice, east of Fort Beaufort, lie both in the valley of the Keis-
kamma. Fort Peddie, an old military station nearer to the coast, has become the
chief centre of population in the " neutral zone," which was fonnerly limited on
one side by the Great Fish River, on the other by the Keiskamma. ,

Farther east the border lands still more recently contested by the Kafirs and
the English squatters are now pacified, and have also their white settlements.
The capital of this conquered territory is King William's Town, more commonly
designated by the simple name of King. Of late years it has become a great
trading centre, and the chief depot for the traffic between the British colonists
and the Kafirs. Nearly all the farmsteads dotted along the banks of the river
in this district are inhabited by Germans, descendants of the Anglo-Germanic
Legion which was disbanded after the Crimean war. Hence such names as
Berlin, Potsdam, Braunschweig, Frankfurt, given to the recent settlements in this
part of the country.

Like Graham's Town, King has also sought for an independent outlet for its
trade, and it is now connected by a railway with East London, one of the most
dangerous seaports on this coast. Jetties, quaj's, and breakwaters have been
constructed, and extensive works carried out to deepen and shelter the estuary ;
but all in vain, and the harbour often remains inaccessible for days together. The
Buffalo River, which reaches the sea at this point, has occasionally swept away the
bar during some sudden freshet, and then vessels drawing 20 feet of water could
enter the port, but now the bar is fijced, and has seldom a depth of more than
8 or 9 feet at the flow. In South Africa the remark has become proverbial
that East Ijondon is one of those ports which are highly in favour with owners who
want to lose their ships, crew and all, in order to recover the insurance on the
freight from the underwriters. Yet in spite of everything, East London is the
second port in the colony for the shipment of wool, while in 1897 (latest returns)
its exports of all kinds exceeded £3,120,000.

Like the large towns in the western district, King William's Town is connected
with the Orange basin by a railway, which surmounts the Storm-berg at a pass
nearly 5,700 feet high. The line passes through Stutterhcini, Cathcart, and Queens-
town, in the well- watered district which former Ij' belonged to the Tambuki Kafirs.
It then turns the pyramidal mass of the Hang-Klip and crosses the main range
at an altitude 800 feet higher than the Puy de Dome in the south of France.
On the opposite slope this line traverses the coalfields of Molfeno, which supplies
the whole railway sj'stem of the colony with fuel. Beyond the Molteno district
the route passes through Burghers on the inland plateau, reaching the Orange
River at the station of AUnal North, which carries on a considerable trade with
the Orange Free State, whose territory begins on the opposite side of the river.
A bridge 860 feet long connects Aliwal North with Bethulie on the right bank of
the river, beyond which the line is continued to Smithfield, where a junction is
effected with the main Hne rimning from Port Elizabeth through Colesburg, and

COLESBUEG— HOPETOWN. 137

across the Oranse River to Bloemfontein and thence to Transvaal. Thus the
railways in the eastern division of Cape Colony have been brought into connection
■n-ith those of the Boer State, in accordance with the recommendation made in 1888
by the Conference of delegates in Cape Town that a South African Customs Union
should be established, and the Colonial railway system extended northwards to the
States bf^'ond the Orange River.

East of Aliwal North the region comprised between the course of the Orange,
the Telle River, and the crest of the Drakensberg, is still included in the territory
of Cape Colony. In this Alpine district the two chief centres of population are
the -s-illages of Hersclwl, on the left bank of the Orange, and Barhhj, situated in an
upland valley near the river Kraal, which falls into the Orange a short distance
above Aliwal North.

Towards the west, the zone of the colonial territory belonging to the basin of
the Orange gradually broadens out with the northern trend of that river. But
towns and even villages are rare on these arid upland plains formerly inhabited
by myriads of large mammals, and now mostly converted into vast grazing-
grounds. Coleshurg^ now connected by rail with Port Elizabeth, is the chief
depot for goods intended for the Orange Free State. An "international" bridge
crosses the Orange about 20 miles to the north-east of this place. Two other
bridges follow towards the north-west, between Cape Colony proper and the now
incorporated territory of Griqualand West. One of these belongs to the railway
which runs from the Cape through the Diamond Fields to Rhodesia ; the other, at
Hopetoicn, lower down, is one of the most remarkable structures of this sort ever
erected in Cape Colony ; it has a total length of no less than 1,400 feet. Hope-
town, which is distant over 600 mUes from the Atlantic, is the last riverain town
on the Orange, which from this point to its mouth traver.ses an almost unin-
habited region. Nothing occurs along its banks except a few isolated farmsteads,
some Hottentot kraals and missionarj- stations, the German " colony " of Stolzer-
feh, and some Bushman camping-grounds. At the base of the hills far inland are
a few market villages, such as Hanocer, Richmond, Victoria West, Fraserburg, and
Carnarvon, whence the stock-breeders of the surrounding districts draw their
supplies.

Material Resources of Cape Colony. — Agrictjlture.

The population of Cape Colony is rapidly increasing by the natural excess of
births over the mortality. Families are very numerous, and cases are mentioned
of patriarchs whose family circle comprises over two hundred living descendants.*
Nevertheless the actual number of inhabitants is still very slight compared with
the vast extent of still unoccupied lands suitable for colonisation. South Africa,
at least throughout all the coastlands below the Tugela basin, enjoys an excellent
climate, presenting no obstacles to field operations, and every farmer makes it a
point of honoiir to make his holding peld simultaneously " corn and wine, meat
and wool." Land is not yet very dear, except in the neighbourhood of the towns

* Von Hubner, op. cit.

188 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

aud in certain well-watered districts, where " fancy prices " prevail. On an
average the market value of good lands ranges from ten to thirty shillings an
acre, while for the same money over half a square mile may be had in poor and
arid districts.

Already the greater part of the colonial aral)le lands have found purchasers.
Nevertheless there still exist vast unclaimed wooded tracts and other lands of
which the Crown has taken possession, and which after being officially surveyed
are put up for sale. The buyer is required to pay yearly the twentieth part of
the purchase money, unless he prefers to redeem the charge by a single paj'ment.
In the eastern districts old grazing- grounds of the Kafirs, and other extensive
domains confiscated from the enemy, hare been parcelled out into lots for the
most part of small size, varying from 320 to about 500 acres. These lots are sold
only to such purchasers as are not already owners of estates exceeding 500 acres.
An attempt has in this way been made to introduce a sj'stem of small holdings,
and in this region the land is really divided into a relatively large number of
estates. Here English, German, Hottentot, and Kafir squatters live side by side
as peaceful tillers oj the land, whereas farther west, and especially in the pastoral
districts, the system of large landed properties prevails almost everywhere. The
purchasers have secured on an average about four times as much as had been ceded
to them by the Governmeut, and even in the vicinity of the Cape domains of 2,500
acres and upwards are by no means rare. In 1898 the alienated land comprised
127,550,000 acres, and those still unsold about 50,000,000 acres.

Although cereals give a very fair return on the outlay in capital and labour,
the colony is still obliged to import corn and flour to the yearly amount of from
£300,000 to £000,000. "Wheat is grown chiefly in the neighbourhood of the
eastern and western capitals. Cape Town and Graham's Town, and in the north-
eastern districts near Kafirland and the Orange Free State. Maize and millet are
the prevailing crops in the eastern parts bordering on the Kafir territor}' ; but
here, as well as in the rest of the colony, all the alimentary plants of the Euro-
pean temperate zone thrive well. Tobacco-growers appear to meet with most
success in the valley of the Olifant River, an eastern afiluent of the Gaurits, where
the crop amounted in 1898 to 3,934,000 pounds of leaf, almost entirely consumed
in South Africa itself.

The vine was one of the first European plants introduced by the early settlers
into the Cape district. The Huguenot refugees, bringing the plant with them,
from the first devoted themselves seriously to viticulture, and the districts where
they settled are still the most noted in the colony for the quality of their vintages.
The climate of the extreme south-west comer of the continent is admirably suited
for the cultivation of the vine, probably more so than any other region in the
whole world. To the spring rains, which stimulate the vegetation generally,
succeed the summer heats, which, thanks to the normal humidity of the atmo-
sphere, bring the grapes to maturity without at the same time drying them.
Hence the annual production of the Cape vineyards is relatively higher than that
of any other country in the world. The difference is in fact so great that it might

VITICULTUEE.— STOCK-BEEEDIXG. 139

appear altogether incredible to most wine-growers. Thus while the j-ield varies
in other places from about three hundred and ten to nine hundred gallons per
hectare,* it reaches two thousand in the coast district of the Cape, and rises to the
prodigious average of no less than three thousand eight hundred gallons in the
inland districts of Worcester and Oudtshoorn.t

Yet, despite this marvellous yield, only a very small part of the western
district suitable for wine-growing has hitherto been devoted to viticulture.
Although this industry is yearly increasing, the actual extent of land planted
with the vine was still imder 30,000 acres in the year 1898. At the same time
very little intelligence is displayed in saving the harvest and preparing the
vintage, so that most of the wines, badly pressed and " fortified " with brandies,
have an impleasant flavour in the opinion of connoisseurs. The old vineyards have
also suffered much both from oidiimi and phylloxera. But the loss has been largely
repaired by the introduction of fresh stock from America, which resists the attacks
of these pests, and since 1893 has yielded good returns.

Stock-breeding. — Ostrich-farming.

The number oi inhabitants of the colony occupied with stock-breeding and
the associated industries is estimated at about one-third of the whole population.
The breed of horses, sprung from ancestors imported from the Argentine States,
and afterwards improved by crossings with English and Arab blood, possesses the
rare combination of strength, mettle, and endurance. Breeders have already their
" genealogical trees " of famous racers, and in 1898 the colony possessed about
three hundred and eighty-two thousand valuable horses. The homed cattle are
at least thrice as numerous. They descend partly from the long-homed animals
owned by the Dutch at the arrival of the first immigrants ; but this stock has
long since been moditied by crossings with varieties introduced from England and
HoUand. Hundreds of thousands of oxen are employed exclusively for the
transport of goods and passengers in the colonial districts and conterminous
regions which are not yet traversed by lines of railway- Hence farmers devote
themselves specially to the breeding of cattle as pack animals and mounts, an
industry unknown in any other part of the world. But on the other hand, milch
cows are far from numerous, and such branches of dairy farming as the collection
and distribution of mUk and butter-making are carried on only in the neighbour-
hood of the large towns. Whole herds have frequently been swept away by
epidemics.

At present the chief resource of the colony is its numerous flocks of sheep.
On their first arrival in the country the Dutch here found the fat-tailed breed

* Yield in France in the exceptionally good year 1875, 670 gallons per hectare of 2^ acres ; in the
average year, 1883, 400 gallons ; in the bad year, 1886, 310 gallons,
t P. D. Hahn. John Noble's Cape of Good Mope.

140 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

with rough fleece or hair, which is spread over the greater part of the African
continent. The animals of this variety owned by the European and native
farmers of the colony are still estimated at about a million, and their numbers
have even recently increased. Their flesh is so highly esteemed that they continue
to be largely bred, chiefly for the shambles.

The first European sheep yielding a fine wool were not mt^oducec^. till the
year 1790, and in 1830 the wool exported from the Cape amounted to no more
than some thirty-three thousand pounds. The weaving of wool was still unknown
in the country, and even now it would be difficult to find amongst the old Boer
families a single woman able to handle a distaff or knit a pair of stockings.
Wool-growing acquired no importance till about the middle of the century ; but
from that time forth it developed rapidlj-, and this industry reached its high-
water level in the year 1872. After that time it again notably declined, owung to
the prolonged droughts, and probably also because the wools of the Orange Free
State, formerly exported by Cape Colony and reckoned amongst the produce of
that region, arc now forwarded through Natal.

Excluding the fat-tailed species, there were over eleven millions of wool-
yielding animals in the colony in 1898. Thanks to their fleece, the Cape shccj) have
been the chief agents in distributing the vegetable species. "Wherever they
penetrate they bring with thera the seeds from the regions traversed by them.
In many parts of the country lying north of the Orange River the aspect of the
vegetation has undergone a complete change since the introduction of sheep-
farming. Since the middle of the century the Cape stock-breeders have also here
acclimatised the Angora goat, and the mohair which is now exported from South
Africa is said to surpass that of Asia Minor itself in fineness and softness of
texture, without, however, equalling it in lustre. In the grassy enclosures of the
colony there now also graze thousands of tame antelopes of several species, but
chiefly the variety known as boute-boks.

Previous to the year 1864, the ostrich had been regarded by the Cape Colonists
only as game, and this animal was so eagerly himted that the time was foreseen
when it would have completely disappeared from South Africa. But two farmers
in different parts of the country were alrcad}- turning their attention to the
domestication of the ostrich, with the view of substituting sj'stematic breeding for
the chase. The result was that in 1875 the agricultural census of the colony
included eighty of these tamed birds, which yielded for exportation one hundred
and twenty-five pounds of feathers, less beautifiil, however, than those of the
Mauritanian bird living in the wild state. Domestication appears to have
gradually changed the character of this animal, which is naturally at once so
timid and so irascible, and the young broods may now be tended without any great
risk. But the industry remained somewhat in abej-ance until the introduction of
artificial incubators. Since then the number of domestic birds has rapidly
increased, numbering in 1898 about two hundred and seventy thousand, which yielded
for the export trade three hundred and fifteen thousand pounds of plumes, valued
altogether at no less than £605,000. The smallest newly-hatched chick readily

OSTEICH-FAEMING.— lEBIGATION. 141

fetched £10, and before the year 1883 the stock of healthy, full-grown birds with
fine plumage was valued at hundreds of thousands of pounds.

But since that time ostrich-farming has become a more precarious occupation.
Disease has greatly diminished the prospects of breeders ; the expenditure has
gone on increasing in undue proportion to the profits ; and worse still, fashion, ever
fickle, h,a8 reduced by one-half the market value of ostrich feathers. These
beautiful personal ornaments are no longer so highly esteemed since industry has
rendered them more common. Nevertheless Cape Colony has hitherto preserved
the virtual monopoly of the trade, the repeated attempts made to domesticate the
ostrich in Algeria, Tripolitana, Australia, the Argentine States, and California,
having had but little success. In order to prevent the exportation of the Cape
breed, the administration has imposed a prohibitive export tax of £100 on every
adult bird and £5 on every egg.

Irrigation Works. — Trade.

Both for the purposes of stock-breeding and for agricultural operations
generally, the Cape Colonists need an abundant supply of water. But perennial
streams and copious springs are unfortunately everywhere somewhat rare. Hence
a chief care of the farmers must necessarily be how best to husband the rain water
and prevent its running waste. The fertilising fluid is now drawn off from most
of the rivers, and distributed by irrigation canals along the riverain tracts.
Elsewhere, the natural reservoirs are directly tapped by hand and chain-pumps,
and suchlike modern hydraulic appliances. But in the districts destitute of
springs or permanent streams, the underground supplies have to be reached by
sinking deep wells in the mountain gorges, along the dried-up wadj's, and where-
ever subterranean streams may still be flowing. The graziers of the arid Karroo
country have acquired great skill in detecting, by the character of the vegetation,
the spots where such reservoirs have been formed below the surface.

Most of the landowners whose estates present a certain incline and other
facilities, have taken advantage of the natural Ke of the land to capture and store
the rain water in large depressions formed by artificial dams and embankments.
Some of these lacustrine basins are some miles in circumference, and after the wet
season often contain as much as thirty-five million cubic feet, or about two hundi'od
and twenty million gallons of the precious fluid. Thanks to these extensive works,
many tracts in the Karroos have already undergone a great change. Large trees,
orchards, and tall succulent herbage now flourish in districts where formerly
nothing was to be seen but bare arid lands relieved here and there with patches of
thorny scrub. But these oases in the wilderness are occasionally exposed to the
ravages of the all-devouring locusts, clouds of which at intervals of fifteen or
twenty years alight on the verdant slopes and bottom-lands, in a few hours con-
suming every blade of grass.

Till recently the English and Dutch settlers confined themselves to farm
operations and the export of the raw materials to Europe, the few local industries

142

SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

being limited to the production of the most ordinary objects of daily use. But
such is no longer the case. The colony is learning to dispense with the manu-
factured wares of Great Britain, and has even begun to impose prohibitory charges
on these imports for the purpose of fostering the rising industries of South Africa.
The Cape now boasts of its distilleries, its breweries, its flour-mills, tanneries,
sawing and soap works, and even factories for manufacturing furniture, cqTiages,
and machinery. Its artisans are already trying their hands at wool-spinning and
cloth-weaving, and have begun to supply England with tinned meats and all

Fig. 42. — Sooth Afeican Lnras'op Steam Navioation and Cables.

Scale 1 : 76,000,000.

Lilies of Steamers.

Telegraph Cables.
. 1,200 Miles.

kinds of jams and preserves, the preparation of which had hitherto been the secret
of the Dutch housewives.

The Cape is also developing a mining industry, and amongst the immigrants
who come to seek their fortune in the colony are many Cornish miners, driven
from the mother country by the gradual exhaustion of the English mineral ores.
At present the chief colonial mining operations are centred about the rich copper
deposits of Little Namaqualand and the coalfields of the Storm-berg highlands.
Guano is also methodically worked in the islands along the west coast, and salt
in the upheaved inlets of the seaboard and in the depressions of the Karroos and
of the Orange basin. The Cape salt, excellent for pickHng and curing, is used in
some fishing- grounds which cure for the local consumption and even for the
English market.

TEADE OF CAPE COLONY. 143

The colonial trade, which normally increases from decade to decade at a more
rapid rate than the population itself, had nevertheless temporarily decreased after
the exportation of wool and ostrich feathers had been checked by long droughts,
reckless speculation, changes of fashion, and competition. But since then the
foreign trade has received an enormous impulse by the general policy of expansion,
by the occupation of Bechuanaland and Rhodesia, and especially by the develop-
ment of the mining industries — diamonds and gold — in Griqualand West, the
Transvaal, Matabele, and Mashonaland, and in general throughout the whole region,
which extends from the Limpopo to the Zambese. Here commerce has been greatly
furthered by the development of railway enterprise throughout Southern Rhodesia.

Most of the foreign trade, and nearly all the carrying trade, is in the hands of
the English, the seaborne traffic being almost exclusively carried on by vessels flyino
the British flag. Although somewhat thrust aside and removed from the great
highway between Western Europe and the East Indies by the opening of the Suez
Canal, the Cape is now visited by a greater number of ships than at the time
when the ilediterranean was still separated from the Red Sea. The improvement
in mechanical appliances now enables the ocean steamers plying between England
and Australia to replenish their coal bunkers at Cape Town without putting into
the inner harbour. The annual amount of British trade carried on in this way by
vessels doubling the Cape without landing at the capital, is estimated at not less
than £50,000,000. Cape Town is also now connected with the telegraphic systems
of Europe and the New World by means of a cable which touches at nearly all
the chief seaports along the west coast of Africa. Another cable, which was the
first to be laid down, connects the colony with Zanzibar, Aden, India, China, and
Australasia.

, Highways of Communication.

In the interior of the country the network of communications is being rapidly
developed. A great change has been effected since the days when the Boers
moved about from district to district and carried out their great northward
migrations under almost incredible difficulties. In the total absence of properly
constructed roads they had to drive their cumbrous waggons over rough and
irregular tracks, across sandy or stony wastes, muddy depressions, and thorny
scrub. These huge vehicles were constructed of a hard elastic wood, grinding
and groaning at every jolt. They had to be made disproportionately wide to keep
them from toppling over as they suddenly plimged into the wayside ruts, and they
were divided like movable houses into various compartments for the provisions,
the household utensils, the merchandise, and sleeping arrangements. A stout
awning covered the whole, sheltering the inmates of these ambulatory dwellings
from rain, wind, and dust. Usually several families migrated in concert, to afford
each other mutual aid duiing rough weather, or in case of attack from the
aborigines or from wild beasts. As many as eight or ten thus followed in a long
line, winding over the track and each drawn by a team of several pairs of oxen

144 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

with heads bent by the heavy yoke, but muzzle free of crub or reins. The driver
urged them with his voice, aided by an occasional touch of his formidable whip,
generally several yards long. A youth nearly always ran in front of the first
pair, guiding them to the right or left, and at the passage of rivers even swimiuiug
before them, encouraging them in every way and preventing them from stopping
in mid-stream and thus exposing the whole span to being swept away by the swift
current.

To surmount the steep inclines the ordinary teams were often insufficient,
although the waggon-load might not exceed one ton. On such occasions the
number of draft animals had to bo perhaps doubled under the leading waggon, ten
or even twelve pairs being yoked to get it over the difficult pass, and then brought
back to pick up the rest of the convoy awaiting their turn along the line of march.
At times the vehicles had even to be unloaded, taken to pieces, and transported
with the whole freight piecemeal over the rocky heights. Frequently the animals
broke down altogether through sheer exhaustion, and then the caravan had to out-
span in the wilderness while messengers were sent to bring up fresh teams. Yet
in spite of all the dangers and hardships of such journeys, they were always
remembered with a feeling akin to delight, and cheerfully resumed at the shortest
notice. In the evenings the waggons were disposed in a circle round the camp,
great fires were kindled to scare away the rapacious beasts, whose ej-es were at
times seen glaring in the bush, and music and the dance were kept up till late at
night to indemnify the trekkers for the toil and perils of the day.

At present such tedious journeys are no longer made in Cape Colony, where
vehicles of the old waggon type are used chiefly for the transport of goods in the
more remote districts. A network of great carriage roads intersects the territory in
all directions, surmounting the loftiest ranges by well-graded inclines. Sections
of road-work, such as those of Montague Pass and Southey's Pass, in the south-
western division, and of the Catberg, between the Orange River and Graham's
Town, are shown to strangers with a pardonable feeling of pride.

The railways starting from Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Port Alfred, and East
London, already penetrate beyond the Orange Eiver into the Boer States and
Southern Rhodesia. The line from the Cape to Bulawayo, opened in 1897, is
already spoken of as merely the southern section of the " Cape-Cairo " railway,
which is eventually to traverse the continent from Cape Town to the Medi-
terranean,

Administration. — Pl hlic Instruction,

Throughout the first half of the present century Cape Colony was simply a
dependency of the Crown. The governors exercised their functions in the name
of the sovereign, at first alone, and later with the aid of an executive council and
a legislative council, nominated directly by the British Government. The colonial

"7T^^--^"'- -''"■■' ■ ■'"^f 'i^'M^pl

m.Mrf^^

>:f- f^^^

D
O

O
S

o
>
z
o

ADMINISTRATION OF CAPE COLONY.

145

parliament dates only from the year 1853, and the appointment of the Governor
and Vice-Governor is still reserved by the Crown, which also retains the power of
veto. In virtue of the constitution, which is modelled for the most part on that of
Great Britain, the legislature comprises two chambers, the Lower, or House of
Assembly, and the Upper, or Legislative Council. The first consists of seventj'-nine
members, elected for a period of five years, and indemnified for their services by a
grant of one guinea a day during the session. The Legislative Council com-
prises only twenty-three members, who take the distinctive title of " Honourable,''
and who are elected for seven years, the qualification being the possession of £2,000
immovable property, or movable property worth £4,000. Members of both
chambers are elected by the same voters, who must be British subjects, white or

Fis. 43. — Administeative Divisions of Cape Colont AjfD NEioHBouBiNa Tebbitobies.

Scale 1 : 17,500,0iM.

Ihe diyisional figures correspond to those inserted in tht- Iiistrict Tables of eacli State. For lack of space the districts
of the Division of the Cape are not indicated.

. 300 Miles.

black, owners of house property of the value of at least £75, or in receipt of a.
salary of £50, or wages of £25 with board and lodging. Electors must also be
able to sign their names, and state in writing their occupations and addresses.

By all these provisions a very small number of whites, and the immense majority
of the aborigines, are excluded from the exercise of the electoral right. But as a
rule these electors show little eagerness to vote, seldom attending the polling
booths except under the pressure of parties anxious to secure the return of their
candidates. The Assemblj' elects its own president and officers, while the Legisla-
tive Council is presided over ex-officio by the Chief Justice, himself appointed by
the central Government. The general administration is entrusted to the Governor,

AFRICA. IV, f

146 SOUTH ANT) EAST AFRICA.

aided by a ministry of five members : tbe Colonial Secretary, who is also Premier,
the Attorney-General, the Treasurer-General, the Commissioner of Crown Lands
and Public Works, and the Secretary for Agriculture. These ministers, who are
chosen by the Governor, constitute the Cabinet, responsible to the Chambers.

The administration of justice still depends on the British Government, by
whom are appointed the field-cornets (veld koriiet), or district magistrates, and
justices of the peace. The highest tribunal in the colony is the Supreme Court,
which comprises a chief justice and eight puisne judges. The Judges of this
court hold sessions in Cape Town, and circuit courts in the western districts.
The judges appointed to the eastern district courts hold sessions in Graham's
Town, and circuit courts in the eastern districts, and the judges assigned to the
High Courts hold sessions in Kimbcrley. Under certain conditions, appeal may be
made from the Supreme Court itself to the Queen in Council. The Iloman-Dutch
law constitutes the chief legal code, modified by colonial statute law.

The British Government also to some extent controls the military forces,
although maintaining only a very small number of men at Cape Town and Simon's
Town. The colonial army, paid out of the local revenues, comprises the Cape
Mounted Riflemen, about a thousand officers and men, besides a body of over seven
thousand volunteers of all arms. By a law passed in 1878, every able-bodied man
in the colony between the ages of eighteen and fifty is subject to military service
beyond as well as within the colonial frontiers. Thus is constituted a nominal
reserve of over one hundred and twenty thousand men.

Before 1875 the Church was still united to the State, although all denomina-
tions did not enjoy a share of the public revenues. Since then the principle of
separation has been adopted, and the several congregations have now to support
their own ministers, salaries being allowed only to those members of the clergy
who were appointed before the vote abolishing the State Churches had force of law.
The ecclesiastical budget thus decreases from year to year by the process of natural
extinction. In 1899 it had already been reduced to £0,055. The largest white
commxmities are the Dutch Reformed and the Episcopalians, which before the late
changes were the privileged State churches. But the Wesleyans are far more
active and successful in evangelising the natives, and most of the Hottentots and
Kafirs in the colony accordingly belong to that denomination. The Malays have
remained Mohammedans, and have even made some proselytes. They have
mosques both at Cape Tovni and Port Elizabeth.

While the charges on the State revenue for religious worship are gradually
diminishing, those for public instruction are on the increase, although the com-
pulsory system has not yet been introduced. No doubt the scholastic establish-
ments depend chiefly on the municipalities, and are, for the most part, supported
by voluntary contributions. Nevertheless the Government promotes the spread of
education by means of scholarships for poor but promising students, by supplying
books, maps and instruments, and by granting salaries or stipends to the profes-
sors. The jDrimary schools are divided into three groups, according to the
nationality of the pupils. Thus the racial prejudices which prevail in the

GEIQUALAND WEST. I47

religious world, distributing the faithful in separate congregations according to
their complexions, have been extended also to the educational system, and legisla-
tion has taken care to keep the children of the dominant races entirely aloof from
those of the Malaj's and Hottentots.

The public schools in the towns and villages attended by European children
are administered by local commissioners ; those intended for half-castes in the
urban and industrial districts are placed under the superintendence of the religious
communities ; lastl}-, the schools opened for the use of the aborigines have
remained in charge of the missionary societies, by whom they were originally
founded. These are, for the most part, technical institutions, where are taught
especially such crafts as carpentry, cartwright's work, joinery, bookbinding, and
printing. For these establishments a large number of teachers are drawn from
the native population itself.

The colony also possesses high schools or colleges which prepare young men
for the Liberal professions. These are under the control of the University, which
was incorporated in 1873, and which is an examining body empowered to grant
degrees, without any machinery for imparting instruction. There are altogether
five colleges aided by Government grants under the Higher Education Act, each
with fuU staff of professors and lecturers in classics, mathematics, and the
physical sciences. But despite all the facilities offered for public instruction, the
proportion of attendance is very low, and even of the European population about
28 per cent, were returned as illiterate by the Census of 1891.

The Colonial Government has already its public debt, which about equals four
years of revenue. The latter is derived for the most part from customs, excise,
stamps, and legacy dues. The rest is made up from the profits on the railwavs,
post-office, telegraph service, tolls, and rent or sale of public lands and mines.

The colony is divided for administrative purposes into 77 divisions, and its
dependencies into 29 districts, each division having a Civil Commissioner, who is
usually Resident Magistrate.

GrIQU ALAND WesT.

The province, which was definitely annexed to Cape Colony in 1877, and which
became an integral part of the same political system in 1880, would probably have
been still left to its aboriginal populations and to the squatters of Boer or mixed
descent, had not the discovery of the diamond fields made it a valuable acquisition for
the Colonial Government. In 1871, that is one year after the report of the won-
derful finds had been spread abroad, the Cape authorities invited the chief of the
Griquas, a Bushman named Waterboer, to accept the British suzerainty, and then
hastened to comply with the wish which he was stated to have expressed on the
subject. The conduct of the Colonial Government in connection with this affair
was certainly somewhat high-handed, although it could scarcelj- be expected that
much regard could be paid to the fact that the miners attracted to the district had
already set up the indej)endent republic of Adamanta. The Orange Free State
also put in a claim for the possession of this territory ; but the right of the

148

SOUXn AND E.VST AFRICA.

strongest competitor prevailed, and iu 1877 the Boers of the Free State consented
to surrender their claim to the contested district for a sum of £90,000.

A conventional line drawn across the plateau from the right bank of the
Orange to the left bank of the Vaal, henceforth detaches from the Free State and
assigns to Cape Colony the triangular space comprised between the two rivers
above their confluence. With a view to roundins; off its frontiers, to this diaman-
tiferoua region has also been addecT a portion of the hilly tableland which stretches
north of the Orange in the direction of the Kalahari Desert and of the present
division of British Bechuanaland.

Within its present limits the province of Griqualand West thus covers a

Fig. 44. — Gbi<juala>-d West.
Scale 1 : 3,400,000.

CAPE

LQSt of Jjreenwtc^^

, ro ililea.

superficial area of over fifteen thousand square miles, with a population, according
to the last census (1891), of over 83,000.

Griqualand West enjoys an excellent climate, notwithstanding the fever pre-
valent amongst the mining classes, which must be attributed to the unhealthy
nature of the operations in which they are engaged. As in the southern regions,
the European population finds here a perfectly congenial home, and increases in
the normal way bj' excess of births over the death-rate. The country stands at a
mean altitude of about 3,600 feet above sea-level, and while the general tilt of the
land is from east to west, as shown by the course of the Orange, the highest eleva-

THE GEIQUAS. 149

tions occur in the western parts of the province. Here several crests exceed
4,600 feet, and the camping- ground of Daniel's Kuil lies at an altitude of 5,370 feet ;
even along the banks of the Orange the country falls nowhere below 3,000 feet.

The chains of hills or ridges rising above the plateau are disposed for the most
part in the direction from north-east to south-west, parallel with the cour.se of the
Vaal. They are usually of gently rounded form, the prevailing greyish tints
giving them a somewhat monotonous aspect. In the depressions of the plateau
between the two main streams are scattered numerous salt-pans, nearly all of cir-
cular form, which, during the rainy season, are large and deep enough for the
light craft used in wild-duck shooting, but which at other times are either quite
dry or even replaced by a saline efflorescence. Another feature of the landscape
are the clusters of mimosas scattered over the grazinw-oTounds.

O CD O

The Griquas (Gri-kwa), from whom the pro^once takes its name, are generally
spoken of by the Dutch Boers under the designation of " Bastaards." The great
majority are, in fact, half-caste descendants of the white settlers and Hottentots of
various tribes, who came from the regions south of the Orange about the begin-
ning of the present century. In this extremely mixed population are met every
variety of type, from the stunted Bushman and yellow Hottentot to the tall Kafir
and fair European. But they are on the whole an active, vigorous race, daring
and persevering, superior to the ordinary aborigines in strength and stature, and
in all things distinguished "either by their virtues or their vices." * Amongst
these African half-castes, as amongst the " Bois-Brules " of North America, are
found the most enterprising traders, the most intelligent pioneers, the most daring
hunters, but also the most dangerous and desperate criminals in the colony. In
1839 they valiantly defended their territory against the Mantati (Basutos), who
were threatening to cross the Orange and overrun the whole country. The Man-
tati were driven towards the north, where they in their turn became famous
conquerors under the name of Makololo.

Even the pure white population of Griqualand West, consisting for the most
part of miners of every nation — Englishmen from Cornwall and Lancashire,
Germans from the Hartz, Piedmontese, Americans from California, Australians —
are distinguished above all the other European inhabitants of South Africa for
their energy, independence, and enterprising spirit. More than once they have been
in conflict with the Government, compelling it to withdraw unpopular measures.

The Diamond Fields.

For a long time the squatters along the banks of the Orange were in the habit
of picking up certain lustrous stones, the true value of which was, however,
unknown tUl 1867. In that year two dealers shared between them the price of the
first " Cape diamond," which had been taken from a young Bushman. Two years
later a Griqua found another magnificent stone of 83 carats, which received the
name of the "Star of South Africa," and which was sold for £ll,200.t There

• Gustav Fritsch, Srei Jahre in Siid-Aftika.

+ This beautiftil gem, now known as the "Dudley," was afterwards purchased by the Earl of Dudley,
and reduced, by the process of cutting, to a little over forty-six carats.

150

SOUTH AND E.\ST M="EICA.

was an immediate rush to the district of Hopetown, where the first finds had been
made, but where, strange to say, no deposits have yet been discovered. Then the
sands of the Orange were carefully examined as far as the confluence of the Vaal,
the banks of which river were also explored. At last the great diamantiferous
deposits were reached in a district 96 miles above the confluence, which was at one
time probably studded with lacustrine basins. Now began the great nis/j, adven-
turers of all kinds flocking towards the new Eldorado, which was at that time
almost uninhabited. Soldiers, sailors, deserters, farm-labourers, blacks, whites,
mere striplings, arrived in crowds, everj- ship from Europe bringing a fresh con-

Fig. 45. — RiTEB DlOOINOS DJ THE VaaL BaSIN.

Pcilp I : 55,0«X).

ms\K.

Natal Kopje*'^

Webster's Koc
Kevy 'a Kopj e *

Union Kopje

28'

Nevv-Hobpof"

' Fool's R ush

Bad Hopo

K:.-

KIMBERLEY^^
de Been

DuToifs Pan

Bultfontetn

F.asb of b^een^'ch

2,2W Yards.

tingent of eager fortune-hunters. Miners, traders, and speculators hastened to cross
the mountains and desert plains of the Karroo in the direction of the new diamond
fields. The more fortunate possessors of waggons and carts of any description
were able to get over the rough ground in a few days, while the pedestrians
plodded along night and day, guiding their steps by the indications obtained from
the local squatters and Hottentot grazers. But many failed to reach the goal.
Hundreds of waj-farers, worn out by hunger, thirst, disease, and hard.ships of all
sorts, or perhaps losing their waj' in the wilderness, perished in the attempt to
traverse a route over 600 miles long, and their bodies were devoured by rapacious

THE GEIQUALAND DIAMOND FIELDS. 151

beasts and birds. On the camping grounds the mortality was even greater. Here
the bad diet, the lack of comfort, overwork, excessive drink, produced the epidemic
of tj-phus known as the " miner's fever," which rapidly filled the cemeteries of
every rising settlement.

Pniel, on the left bank of the Vaal, where the sands were first successfully
washed for diamonds, has ceased to be one of the chief centres of attraction for
speculators. The deposits have been impoverished, and reckless competition
ha^'ing ceased, the Government has been able to increase the size of the claims
ofEered to purchasers. Here two or three hundred European and native miners
still work on their isolated plots, independent, however, of any great monopolising
companies. The town of Barklij, formerly Klip-drift, on the opposite side of the
Vaal over against Pniel, is a busy market-place for all the diggers engaged in the
mining districts for the space of 60 miles along the course of the stream. The
annual yield of these river-diggings in the Yaal basin at present exceeds £40,000, and
during the period from 1870 to 1886 the total product of the diamantiferous sands
of this river exceeded £2,000,000. The diamonds of this district are distinguished
above all others for their purity and lustre. They are generally found in associa-
tion with other stones, such as garnets, agates, quartz, and chalcedony.

About the end of the year 1870 it was suddenly reported that diamond " placers "
had been discovered on the plateau some 24 miles to the south-east of Pniel, far
from the fluvial alluvia. A new rush was at once made towards this " land of
promise ; " the Dutch farmers were fain to sell their lands, and, as if by enchant-
ment, there sprang up hundreds of tents and cabins, humble beginnings of the
city which in South Africa now ranks in order of importance next to Cape Town
and Port Elizabeth. Geological research has shown that in this region of the
plateau the groimd, uniformly covered with a layer of red sand overlying a bed of
calcareous tufa, conceals in its bosom extensive augite porphyry formations, which
are pierced to a depth of over 1,000 feet by a number of " pipes " or natural
shafts. These pipes, which are faced with a wall of basalt, are supposed to be
nothing more than ancient craters. The earth now filling them is precisely the
diamantiferous formation which has been forced to the surface by the pressure of
the subterranean gases, and which towards the surface has become yellow and
friable, while remaining blue and compact in the lower depths impenetrable to
atmospheric influences. There also occurs a good deal of fire-damp, especially in
the neighbourhood of the rocky walls, where the explosive gases are dangerous
enough to require the construction of underground galleries to protect the miners.
The basalts are overlain by carboniferous schists, and the question has been raised
by geologists whether these schists may not have suppHed the carbon required for
the formation of the diamonds.

Within a space of about 11 miles in circumference there exist four of these
underground crater-like openings, all fuU of the earth in which the diamonds are
distributed in a certain order known to experienced miners. These four diaman-
tiferous pipes are Bultfontein, Be Beer, Du Toil's Pan, and' Kim ber ley, the last of
which, lying close to the town of like name, is the richest diamond-bearing

152

SOUTH AND EAST AFBICA.

ground not only in South Africa but in the whole world. It has been suggested
by the geologist Moulle, that the pans have the same origin as the four dianian-
tiferous craters ; but they have not yet been examined to a sufficient depth to
determine the point whether they also contain eruptive matter yielding crystals.

Fig. 40. — Section op the Geeat Kixberley Mini: peom Nojmi to Sotrm.
Scale 1 lo.ooi.

White

7^^ Sc ^ists^

Old e^rjrLoc.co or

Yellow earth

^nd erupted Jio/ite ZZT

=SlRck trii

\cMuch

'- /firedamp' p^<° v n'l:^^-:^: ^i.— ^_— 77--= "t;; ^ ^_-^ r^-r

r„ t^'c'o'ft" Oop'.-iil.-Sandstorte-Clay-Linnestone —

' ~K^ 0** ' ^ ^"C '^r*^ -~ — Z~Z-~I —

^^^^ ^ — "^ \Ai„lj:Sa'J^H=^MeTafnorphTc TchTTesZ.

660 Fct

•SV/»/'.s Kill'/, one of these saline meres, is described by Chapman as of perfectly
regular form and filled with a conglomerate in which sparkle countless agates.

During the early period of the mining explorations the productive district
was laid out like a chessboard in uniform claims, separated from each other b}'
clearing paths. Some five hundred pits swarming with ten thou.sand bus}' diggers
gave to the mine somewhat the aspect of an ants' nest. But the workers on both
sides attacked the intervening .spaces to get at their precious contents ; the conse-

||'j;i|illtilliiMi!)iii''ivni mu iilinmii iii m iinifiiiiniii , j r^u i f-f^

THE KlMBEfiLEY MINES. 153

quence was that thev gave way at many points, and had to be replaced by bridges.
FijT. 47. Kjmeeklet : Atpeakance of the Mint; in 1880.

But the ground still continuing to subside and fall in, often without an}- warning.

154 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

it was at last resolved to clear out the whole of the iuterior, which was sinkiug
day by day, iu the form of a crater. In order to clear out the earth the plan was
adopted of erecting a framework or wooden scaffolding round about the walls of
the chasm, which had already reached a depth of over "2,000 feet. This contri-
vance was dispo.sed iu several stages or landings, communicating with each claim
by means of an endless baud made of leather, steel, or iron wire. Capstans, driven
at first by hand labour and later by steam, raised the workmen and the buckets of
earth from the bottom of the pit to the sorting platform. No other similar field
of human industry presented a stranger spectacle than this vast cavity encircled
by an intricate network of bright wires poising trucks of men and refuse in mid-
air, and echoing with the constant din of human cries and grinding machinery.

But the appearance of the works soon underwent a fresh change. The bottom
of the pits has to a large extent been filled in by the continual landslips within
the enclosure, sweeping with them the heaps of refuse and disintegrated rock.
During the heav)' rains the abyss has also been frequently flooded, so that the
outlay on the works often nearly balanced the profits. It was also found neces-
sary to modify the plan of operations by sinking shafts through the crumbling
rock in order to reach the blue earth under the heaps of refuse covering it, and
by driving underground galleries into the heart of the diamantiferous mass.
Thus, from being an open quarry, Kimberley has been gradually converted into a
mine in the strict sense of the term. The year 1881, one of the most successful,
yielded to the commerce of the world crystals to the value of £4,160,000. Then
followed a period of depression, involving the min of nearly all the small miners,
who were glad to sell their claims to the De Beer's Conso/idated Minea and three
other smaller companies. Thus was introduced the capital required for the proper
working and control of the industry, which is now in a healthy and flourishing
condition. In 1897 (last returns) the yield exceeded £4,454,000, and the
total value of diamonds exported from 1867 to 1897 has been estimated at over
£83,000,000. This is a far greater quantity than has been collectively yielded
by all the Brazilian diamond fields since they first began to be worked, nearly two
hundred years ago.

The most rigorous measures have been taken to prevent the theft of the
precious stones, and in consequence of these regulations the prisons of Kimberley
have often been fiUed to overflowing. Strikes also have occurred, and as in the
mining districts of Europe have occasionally had to be sternly repressed. But
here as elsewhere the system of large estates has at last prevailed, and since 1887
the De Beer's syndicate, with its headquarters in Loudon and Paris, and disposing
of a capital of £15,000,000, has become the owner of nearly all the most valuable
mines at Kimberley and De Beer. The whole mining population thus consists
exclusively of officials and labourers. When the mines were first opened the
aborigines were excluded from the purchase of claims ; now these claims are
accessible only to millionaires.

The capital of the mining district, lying close to the mouth of the deepest
diamantiferous pit, has already acquired the dimensions of a large town. It is

KIMBEELEY— GEIQUA TOVTS.

155

connected with Cape Town by a railway 620 miles long, and as the chief centre
of trade between the colony and the Dutch republics of the Orange and Transvaal,
it is steadih' recovering from the losses caused by the depreciated value of its
diamonds. Thanks to the water brought at great cost from the Yaal to the
formerly arid plateau, the streets and squares of Kimberley have been planted
with shady trees, and vast heaps of refuse have been transformed to pleasant
gardens. Its original tin houses, brought piecemeal from England, have already
been for the most part replaced by more substantial structures ; its thoroughfares
are illumined with electric light, and like its neighbour, BeaeonHfield, which has
sprung up near the Du Toit's Pan mine, Kimberley already surpasses many old

Fiy. 4S. — ApPiiArns foe raisixo the DiAiiAMifEtous Eaeth.

European towns in mechanical appliances, industrial resources, well-stokced ware-
houses, and handsome buildings. The population, mostly of a fluctuating
character, rose from thirteen thousand in 1875 to nearly three times that number
in 1898.

West of the Yaal the largest place is Griqua Toicn, which may be said to give
its name to the province. It was itself named from the Griquas, by whom it was
foundc?d in the year 1802, at the time of the great exodus of these Dutch and
Hottentot half-castes. Formerly capital of the province, it has now sunk to the
rank of chief town of Upper Hay, one of the four districts or electoral and
administrative divisions of Griqualand "West.

156

SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

Bechuanaland.

The region of broad plains diversified by wooded granite eminences, which
stretches north and north-west of Griqualand West as far as Southern Rhodesia,
now also forms part of the British South African possessions. The Dutch settlers
in the Transvaal republic had long been encroaching on the domain of their
Bechuana neighbours, and had even here founded the two petty states of Stella-
land and Goshen,* with the ulterior purpose of incorporating;- them in the
Transvaal. The suzerain power was accordingly compelled to interfere in defence

Fig. 49 — Chief Routes of Explorers Noeth of the Orange River iiefore 1S!)0.

Sculc 1 : is.(i(io,ixHi.

uj'.t rf ureemvich

Pojiths.

II to l,(itiO
Fathoms.

1,0(1(1 to l.JUO l,.i(l(l to 2.(100 2,0(10 Fathoms

l-Mthoni^. I'utboms. and upwards.

300 Miles.

of the rights of the natives, who were glad to accept the British protectorate in
order to obtain permanent relief from the incessant raids of the Boer filibusters on
their eastern borders.

The territory thus definitely brought within the colonial system comprises the
whole of the somewhat and high plateau, which includes a great part of the
Kalahari Desert, and now takes the name of Bechuanal.\m) from the people who

' Properly Slitlc-uiiid (" Still " or Peaceful Land) and Gooseii.

BECHU AN ALAND. 157

form the groat majority of its inhabitants. Politically, this region extends from
the Orange Kiver and Griqualand West north to the Zambese, and from German
South-west Africa east to Transvaal and Southern Rhodesia (Matabele and Mashona
Lands). As thus defined, Bechuanaland forms two distinct administrative divisions
— South or British Bcchuanalaiid, which was occupied as a Crown Colony in 1885,
and was incorporated in Cape Colony in 1595 ; and North Bechuanaland, 'which.
since 1885 forms the Bechuanaland Protectorate.

At first limited north and west by the Molopo-IIygap river, the southern
section was extended in 1891 northwards to the Nosob river, and westwards to
German South-west Africa, and has thus an area of nearly 52,000 square miles,
with a population estimated in 1898 at about 90,000. In 1899 the northern
section was limited towards Southern Ehodesia by the Shashi and Ramaquaban
rivers and thence by the watershed of these rivers to the Hunter's (Pandamatenka)
Road, which is followed to the Zambese. The Bechuanaland Protectorate thus
includes the territories of the Ba-Mangwatos (late chief Khama), the Ba-Katlas
(chief Lenchwe), the Ba-Kirenas (chief Sebele) and the Ba-Ngivakatse (chief
Bathoen), with an area of about 213,000 square miles, and an estimated population
(1899) of 200,000, giving for the whole region between the Orange and the
Zambese a total area of some 265,000 square miles, and a population of 300,000,
mostly Bechuanas, with a few Hottentots, Bushmen, and mixed groups.

The Bechuanas.

The Bechuana people are a branch of the great Bantu famil)-, who according
to the national traditions arrived in Austral Africa later than the other Kafir
tribes. Till recently they were even still migrating, though not voluntarily. In
order to escape from the Boers of the Orange and Transvaal, many tribal groups
had been compelled to move westwards, and before the intervention of the
English the native tribes were being harassed all along the line by the Boers of
the conterminous districts.

At present the western Bechuanas are separated from the Basutos and other
kindred peoples by the territory of the two Dutch republics. Like the Griquas,
the Bechuanas have thus been broken into two great divisions, henceforth cut off
from all direct intercourse with one another. But notwithstanding this dismem-
berment, they have the full consciousness of their common origin, and throughout
the vast region between the Orange and the Zambese they everywhere recognise
their kinship, even grouping their various tribes in the order of national pre-
eminence. According to unanimous agreement, the senior branch of the family
are the Ba-Harutse (Barotse), who dwell west of the Limpopo headstreams, on the
north-west frontier of the South African republic. M. Arbousset believes that the
term Be-Chuana, now universally adopted as the collective ethnical name, is due to
a misunderstanding on the part of some travellers, whose inquiries about the
various peoples of the country were met by the remark ha chuana, that is, " they
resemble each other," meaning they are all alike, all of one stock. They have
themselves no common national or racial designation iu any of their dialects.

168 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

The Bechuiinas are one of the finest members of the southern Bantu family.
All are tall, robust, well-built, and distinguished by their graceful carriage, which
may be partly due to the fact that in certain tribes tbe feeble or sickly were
formerly got rid of. Albinos and the deaf and dumb were thrown to the panthers ;
those born blind were strangled, and when the mother died her infant was, in some
tribes, buried alive in the same grave, because he had been deprived of hi^ natural
nurse. Circumcision is universally practised, although there is no fixed age for per-
forming the rite. Sometimes it is deferred till adolescence ; yet children born before
the father has been circumcised would be ipso facto declared incapable of inheriting
any of the paternal estate. Usuallj' the operation is undergone between the eighth
and fourteenth year, and is accompanied by scourging, and occasionally even by
tortures, in virtue of which the victims are regarded as equals of the men of the
tribe, worthj' to carry the shield and hurl the assegai. Girls also arc initiated into
womanhood and taught their duties as future wives by a long probationship passed
in seclusion under the direction of elderly matrons. During this period they are
subjected to several severe trials of endurance, the last of which is a hot iron bar
to be held for a few seconds without uttering a cry. After this proof they are
declared women ; they are smeared all over with grease, their hair is saturated
with a mixture of butter and ochre ; they are clothed and decked like brides while
awaiting to be purchased by their future lord.

Circumcision is in no sense a religious ceremony, being merely the symbol of
entrance into the state of manhood, with all its attendant privileges and responsi-
bilities. Those missionaries who first penetrated into this region assure us that
they sought in vain for the least indication of a belief in the supernatural world
amongst the iicchuana peoples. The natives had neither gods nor idols; they
never gathered together for prayer or any kind of public worship ; they neither
appealed in supplication to good or evil spirits, nor even betrayed any fear of the
souls of the dead. At the same time certain practices seem to be altogether
inexplicable except on the supposition that they have been inspired by the desire
to conjure the forces of the unknown world and render the unseen powers pro-
pitious to their votaries. Thus when a tree is struck by lightning cattle are
slaughtered, and similar sacrifices are made for the purpose of healing the sick or
obtaining rain from above. The dead are borne to the grave through a breach
made in the wall of the cabin, and care is taken to lay them in a crouched attitude
with the face turned due north, that is, in the direction whence came their fore-
fathers. Then the by.standers cast into the grave an acacia branch, portions
of ant-hills, and lufts of herbage, emblems of the hunter's life in the woodlands.
On the sepulchral mound are also placed the arms of the departed, together with
the seeds of alimentary plants. But of late years the fear of unwittingly supplpng
the compounders of maleficent charms with the needful skulls has induced many of
the tribes to bury their dead in the cabin itself, under the feet of the living.

After each ceremony all those present wash their hands and feet in a large
water-trough, all the time shouting Pula ! pula ! (Rain I rain I). The wizards
also frequently made a show of attracting the clouds and causing them to discharge

TUE BECHUANAS. 159

beneficial showers. If favoured by luck they at once acquired a great reputation,
but should their predictions be belied by unkindly fate they ran the risk of their
lives. These " rain-makers " even practise a real religious cult, for they pretend
to conjiire the spells of Mo-Rimo, a maleficent being who dwells in a cleft of the
rock. With the view of keeping themselves in touch with the supposed religious
traditions of the people, the missionaries have adopted this very term Mo-Rimo,
meaning " the Dweller on High," to designate the God of the Christians.

The fear or awe of the unknown is also betrayed amongst the Bechuanas in
connection with certain objects which they are forbidden to touch, and certain
food which is tabooed by custom. Like most of the North American redskins,
each Bechuana tribal group venerates a national token, such as a crocodile, a
monkey, some wild beast or fish, and celebrates dances in its honour. The
Ba-Kalahari people take good care never to hunt old lions, especially if these have
acquired a taste for human flesh. Hence it would be regarded as criminal to offer
any resistance to the king of beasts even should he burst into a kraal, in which case
he may at the most be scared away with shouts. Cattle also are held in a sort of
reverence, as well as the thorny branches of the wait-a-bit {Acacia detenetu), which
is used for making the village enclosures.

Each tribe is governed by a king or chief, whose power passes to the eldest
son. But the Bechuana tribal chief is far from enjoying absolute authority.
Custom is powerful and scrupulously respected, while the secondary chiefs, and
occasionally all the free men of the community, may, on weighty occasions, con-
stitute themselves a picho, or parliament, for the purpose of discussing public
interests, advising the king, approving or censuring his conduct, according as it
may be pronounced conformable with or opposed to established precedent. The
picho, however, took no cognisance of crimes, and before the partial introduction
of the British administrative system, such offences as theft, murder, or adultery
were not reg-arded as occurrences of tribal or general interest. Thev were rather
the personal concern of the injured party, who balanced theft by theft, murder and
adultery by murder, unless his wrath was appeased by a compensation in cattle.

But since the missionaries have obtained a footing in all the principal Bechuana
villages, the habits and customs of the natives have undergone great changes, at
least outwardl}'. European dress now prevails amongst all the border tribes, and
the Ba-Tlapi have even learnt the tailor's art, cutting out coats and trousers from
the skins of wild beasts. Almost every village has its school, its chapel, and
modern houses in the English style, encircled by the round huts with conic roofs
still occupied b)' the poorer classes. In all the tribes some persons are met who
speak English or Dutch. Sunday has become a day of rest even for those
natives who do not pretend to have yet accepted the Christian teachings, while in
the absence of the missionary the converted chief reads the service and intones the
psalms in the public assemblies. Being endowed with a quick intelligence, and
especially prone to imitate his betters, the Mo-Chuana strives hard to assimilate
himself to the European, and at times succeeds wonderfully. During this contact
of the black and white elements, which has already lasted over two generations,

160 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

and which began with pilhige and murder, the weaker race has gradually adapted
itself to the forms of civilisation introduced by the invaders of their domain.

The Bechuanus are u very courteous people, and invariably address each other
in polite language. Although they are by nature on the whole of a peaceful
temperament, wars were formerl}- very frequent, caused nearly always by cattle-
lifting. " Our fathers lost their lives in capturing you, and we also shall perish
in guarding you." So sang till lately the young Ba-Mangwato warriors to their
herds ; but under the British rule all the Bechuaua tribes have disi^ontiiiued their
warlike expeditions. Formerly nomad pastors and hunters, they are now rapidly
becoming peaceful tillers of the laud. Every man, every youth, even every girl,
has his or her separate plot of ground, and the child thus learns from its
tenderest years to cultivate the soil.

Down to the beginning of the present century the Bechuunas were stiU
addicted to certain cannibal practices, apparently of a religious character. The
braves who had slain an enemy brought back a portion of the body, and then
gathered together to celebrate their victory under the presidency of a magician.
Crouching round a blazing fire, thej^ broiled the flesh under the embers and
devoured it in common, in order thus to superadd to their own the courage of the
foe. Then, in order to show their contempt of pain, each in turn presented their
bare leg to the priest, who with a stroke of the assegai made a long slit from the
hip to the knee. Although the wound was deep enough to leave a permanent
scar, the warriors had nevertheless to join in the tribal dance, which was kcjjt up
till the " small hours."

Southernmost of all the Bechuana tribes are the Ba-Tlaro, settled on the
north-west frontier of Griqualand West, where, however, they have to a large
extent become merged with the better-known Ba-Tlapi,* or " Fish People."
These Ba-Tlapi, whose national token is a fish, and who carefully abstain from
touching this sacred animal, occupy a hilly district north of Griqualand West,
bordering on the Vaal, and were also among-st the rival claimants for the coveted
diamautiferous region now annexed to Cape Colonj'. They are one of the most
numerous branches of the Bechuana race, numbering with the Ba-Tlaro about
thirty thou.sand souls. Thanks to their frequent relations with the English and
Dutch settlers, they are also the most civilised of all the tribes, and the light
complexion of the children in man}' of their villages betrays an increasing inti-
macy with their European neighbours. They are generally of a very cheerful
disposition, and formerly possessed a large treasure of national songs, which has
now mostly perished, being replaced by religious hjTnns.

Topography of Bechuanal.\xd.

The Ba-Tlapi gardens, wherever suflBcient water is available, yield in abun-
dance all the P^uropean fruits and vegetables, and the plough has already been
introduced very generally. Some of the native towns and A-illages are well
• The Ba-Hlapi, Batlapiug, Bachapin, Matchapeea, Maatjaping of various writers.

KURUMAN— VEIJBUEG. 161

known as stations and market-places on the great highway leading from the
Orange to the Zambese. Those occuijied by the chiefs arc usually very populous,
all the inhabitants being concentrated at such points with a view to defence. In
1801 Truter and Somerville estimated at fifteen thousand the population of Lataku
{Liii(liu), the town founded by the allied Ba-Tlapi and Ba-Rolong nations on the
margin of the Takun spring. After the separation of the two tribes, Kurtiman,
the new capital of the Ba-Tlapi, rapidly became a new town, with nearly six
hundred houses and five thousand inhabitants.

Several other native towns, although no longer "royal residences," are still
plaues of considerable size. Such arc Tauiuj, at the issue of a wady on the right
bank of the Katong (Hart's River) ; Mamusa, lying some sixty miles farther up
on the left bank of the same river ; and Likatloiuj, whose cabins are also grouped
on the banks of the Katong, not far from its confluence with the Vaal, and in the
present province of Griqualand West. But in this region the centres of popula-
tion are easily displaced, and formerly every new king made it a point of honour
to found and give his name to one of these ephemeral residences. All that was
needed for their construction was a good supply of acacia wood stakes, clay, and
herbage or foliage for thatching. Vrijburg, former capital of Stellaland, 126
miles by rail north of Kiraberley, has been chosen as the seat of administration of
British Bechuanaland.

The jnincipal religious centre of the country is Kuruinan, which lies in the
midst of gardens and verdure at the east foot of a sandstone hill, whence an
extensive view is commanded of the surrounding plateau. Here the missionaries
have acquired possession of many broad acres of arable land, which they lease
only to monogamous natives. The river Kuruman, on which stands the town of
like name, has its source among the hills a few miles to the south-east. From a
cave at the foot of an isolated bluff the water flows in such a copious stream as to
be navigable for small boats. Through stalactite galleries close to the chief open-
ing the visitor may penetrate over slippery stones far into the interior of the rocky
cavity, which is supposed to be inhabited by a sacred serpent, tutelar spirit of the
stream. Were he to be slain, the perennial spring would at once dry up. At
the beginning of the century lions were still so numerous and daring in this
region that many of the natives slept in narrow huts erected on piles amid the
branches of the trees. Moffat speaks of a large tree in the neighbourhood of
Lataku which contained no less than seventeen of such aerial dwellings.

The Ba-Rolong nation, formerly allies of the Ba-TIapi, but now divided into
several independent tribes, occupy tlie northern section of British Bechuanaland,
that is to say, the whole of the district comprised between the mostly dry beds of
the Molopo and the affluents of the Kuruman. But the chief stations, Mafcking,
residence of the British Commissioner, Shuha, Pictmni, and Morokicane are grouped
about the head waters of the Molopo, where the gorges yield a sufficient supply
for the irrigation of their fields. The Ba-Rolongs number altogether eighteen
thousand full-blood Bechuanas, besides many half-castes reckoned apart. The
tract lying between their domain and that of the Ba-Tlapi has afforded a refuge

AFIUC.V IV. jit

162 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

to the remains of a tribe of Korana Ilottentots crossed witli Bcchuanas of different
clans, and numbering altogether about five thousand souls. Within this Bechuana
domain have also been established several little communities of Bastaards driven
north bj' the pressure of the English immigrants into Griqualand "West.

The Ba-IIarutse (Ba-IIurutse, Barotse), who still occupy the region of the
Upper Limpopo basin about the frontiers of Transvaal and British Bechuanaland,
are also a decrepit people, much reduced since the time when they were regarded
as the most powerful branch of the Bechuana race. Even recently the sons of
the surrounding kinglets appeared as envoys in their midst in order to learn the
national history or traditions, to studj' the ancestral usages, and conform them-
selves to the received standard of polite society. All the neighbouring com-
munities were even expected to send the first-fruits of their crops in homage to
the Ba-Harutse chief. The branch of the nation which has settled in the Marico
district, within the Transvaal frontier, may also lay claim to pre-eminence for their
progress in agriculture ; they have imported European ploughs, and brought large
tracts under cultivation.

One of the Harutse tribes has withdrawn to the region north of the Protec-
torate, taking refuge in the marshy plains stretching east of Lake Ngami, where
they occupy retreats safe from the encroachments of the most daring invaders of
the land. The Ba-Katla, whoso totem, or national emblem, is a monkej% and
whoso capital is the little town of Gamcohopa, situated on a wooded plateau,
watered by an affluent of the Limpopo ; the Ba-Wanketsi, who are grouped to
the number of six thousand or seven thousand round about the town of Khanye ;
lastly, the Ba-Kwena or " Crocodile People," who dwell a little farther north, but
still within the Upper Limpopo basin, have all alike been greatly reduced and
were often compelled to change their settlements by the incessant raids and en-
croachments of the Transvaal Boers before the British occupation. The town of
Kolohcnrj, where Livingstone had founded his mission before he turned to geo-
graphical exploration, is now in ruins. Liteyani was also abandoned in 1864 ; not,
however, because of the attacks of any aggressive neighbours, but owing to the
adjacent forest of gigantic aloes, whose pulpy leaves falling and rotting on the
ground, rendered the whole district malarious during the rainy season. Liteyani
was succeeded first by the town of Monrakhomo, and then by the present capital,
Lepelole (Jlolopok), which lies in the same region at the foot of a long ridge of
rocky and wooded hills.

This district, about which, so to say, gravitate the royal residences of the
Ba-Kwena nation, is the most renowned in the legendary history of the Bechuana
race. Near Lepelole stands a grotto into which Livingstone was the first who
dared to venture, and not far from the same spot is the Giant's Kettle, hollowed
out of the live rock. From this place, says the national myth, came all the
animals of the world. The same chasm also gave birth to the Bechuana race, and
carved in the rocks is still shown the trace of the first step taken by the first man
as he emerged from the bowels of the earth.*

* Livingstone, Zatl Joumalt,

SHOSHONG.

163

The Ba-Mangwato nation, who occupy the northern division of the British
Protectorate to the west of the Limpopo, as well as the marshy plains stretching
thence northwards in the direction of the Zambese, have ia recent times entered
on a period of political expansion, and constitute at present the most powerful
of the protected Bechuana States. Formerly the Ba-Mangwatos formed only a
single national group with the Ba-Kwcna and Ba-Wanketsi tribes ; but they
separated themselves from that connection at a comparatively recent time, although
not clearly fixed by tradition, and adopted an antelope as the tribal totem. Since

Fig. 50.— Shoshoso befoee 1891.
Scilc 1 : IfS.COO.

^"^' ■ 'fc:-' V •>:

-'^ii

^.- ...

4'"''.'."'"""<i

^,iniii'//y^

Ll.'it oi l?re»r,McH

57"

3 Miles.

then they have themselves been split into two political groups, the Ba-Mangwatos
proper and the Bu-Toauas, who dwell on the plains to the north of Lake Ngami,
the common original home of both branches. A multitude of fugitives belonging
to various tribes driven westwards by the terrible Ma-Tebele conquerors, came to
seek a refuge amongst the Ba-llangwatos, with whom they gradually became
assimilated, all merging in a common nationality.

Shoshong, former residence of the Ba-Mangwato chiefs, was at one time the
largest native town in South Africa. According to Mackenzie, it has had

m 2

164

SOUTH AXD E.VST AFRICA.

at times as many as thirty thousand inhabitants, exclusive of numerous villages
usually grouped in a circle like the cattle enclosures, all really constituting part
of the same urban population. But this gross aggregate has been considerably
reduced, especially since 1893, when the Ba-ilangwato chief, Khama, removed his
residence to Palajti/c, on the river Lotsani, a few miles farther to the north-east.
Lying 3,400 feet above sea-level iu a vast plain, not, like most other Bechuana
capitals, on a steep escarpment, Shoshong stretches along both sides of a mostly
dry rivulet, whicli is dominated on the north by a granite ridge some 12 miles
long. Southwards a basalt eminence is disposed parallel with this granite mass,

Fig. 51. — TiiADE Routes in BECnuAjfAiAso.

Scale 1 : 3n.00O.0on.

Routes.

Railways.
__ GOO MUc9.

the intermediate space between the two heights being occupied by well-cultivated
gardens and hamlets.

The Ba-Mangwatos have long been subject to the influence of the English
missionaries, and have now for the most part adopted the Christian faith.
Throughout their territory the sale of alcoholic drinks and the brewing of beer
are forbidden under severe penalties — a fine of £100 for the foreign dealer,
whether English or Boer, and banishment for the natives convicted of this
oifence.

At Shoshong converge the two main commercial highways which traverse
Bechuanaland, one running north in the direction of the Zambese, the other north-
west towards Lake Ngaini. Southwards both merge in a common route which
skirts the west frontier of the Dutch republics, and was replaced in 1897 by the
railway now completed from the Cape to Bulawayo. At present the total annual
foreign trade of Bechuanaland is estimated at £230,000. Yet at the beginning of
the present century the inhabitants of this region were still cut off from all inter-

BECnUANALAND. 165

course witli the outer world, and had never even heard of the surrounding marine
waters. "When they heard travellers speak of the great ocean they gave it the
name of Mctsebula, that is, " "Water that goes a-grazing," because the tides penetrate
far inland, and then after a few hours retire from the seaboard.

The Ba-Chwapeng, one of the reduced tribes occupying the highland region to
the north-east of Shoshong, have become famous for their skill as iron-workers.
They mine the^ ores themselves in the surrounding deposits, and fabricate all kinds
of implements employed throughout all the surrounding districts. They are also
acquainted with the trees that yield the best fuel for smelting the ores, and reserve
the iron that adheres longest to the charcoal for the manufacture of their hardest
and sharpest axes. Hence they had arrived at a knowledge of steel before the
arrival of the Europeans in the country.

East of Shoshong, and not far from the banks of the Limpopo, dwell the Ba-
Silika people, who had long resisted all attempts at subjugation. They owed
their political independence partly to their central stronghold perched on a bluff
of difficult access, and partly also, if not mainly, to the impassable zone traced
round this citadel by the tsetse fly. Their own herds are kept in upland valleys
beyond the reach of this destructive pest ; but it was impossible for invaders to
cross the intervening district with their cattle. Now, however, the Ba-Silikas are
subject to the Ba-Mangwatos, and their territory is traversed by the locomotive.

Historic Retrospect. — Administration of Bechuanaland.

The " policy of expansion," which in less than a decade has carried the British
flag from the banks of the Orange to the shores of Tanganyika, has been rightly
accredited to the foresight of the Rev. J. Mackenzie, Mr. "W. E. Foster, and Mr.
Joseph Chamberlain, ajthough its logical development is mainl}' due to the energetic
action of Mr. Cecil Rhodes and other leading members of the British South Africa
Chartered Company. But this forward movement, almost unexampled in the history
of British colonial enterprise, was, in the first instance, mainly brought about by
the German occupation of Namaqua and Damara lands in 1884:. It soon became
known that this step was taken in concert with the Transvaal Boers, a primary
object being to establish German political ascendancy in the region stretching
north of the Orange, across the continent from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean.
At the same time encouragement was given to the Portuguese, who were already
dreaming of securing a double hinterland between their Angolan and Mozambique
possessions, and of thus becoming the dominant power from ocean to ocean in the
Zambese region. The result of these designs would, of course, have been to
permanently confine the British dominion to the extremity of the continent south
of the Orange and of Delagoa Bay.

A first step to give effect to the scheme was taken in the autumn of 1884, when
the Boer filibusters raided into Bechuanaland, seized the territory of the Ba-
Rolong chief, Montsioa, and founded the ephemeral republics of Stellaland and
Goshen, athwart the main highway leading from the Cape northwards to the
Zambese. But Mantsioa had already accepted the British protectorate for his

16G SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

people, and the opportunity was thus afforded for direct interference in the affairs
of Bechuaiialaud, which now threatened to bo overrun by tlie Transvaal raiders.
If the northern route was to bo kept open, immediate action was obviously called
for, and thus was brought about the memorable expedition of Sir Charles Warren,
which rapidly cleared out the Boers, and was immediately followed by the pro-
clamation of the British sovereignty over the whole of Bechuanaland (1885).
Imperial interests were thus safeguarded, the designs of Germans a^d Boers were
completely foiled, and nothing remained except to introduce orderly government
into ihe newly-acquired territory.

After some tentative efforts, a good working administration has been firmly
established by dividing the whole region from Orange to Zambese into two
political sections — the above-described Protectorate of North Bechuanaland, and
the Crown Colony of South Bechuanaland, now incorporated in Cape Colon}-. In
the Protectorate, each of the three most powerful Bcchuana chiefs still continues
to rule his own nation, as formerlj', under the guaranteed protection of the Queen,
who is represented in the several tribal cajjitals by a Resident Commissioner,
dependent on the High Commissioner. The natives contribute to the expenses of
the administration by a hut-tax, collected by the chiefs ; no licenses are granted for
the sale of spirits; order is maintained by a force of mounted police ; and the
hunting-grounds formerly owned by the tribes beyond their present strictly
defined frontiers are still secured to them under certain regiilations. In 1898, the
police, numbering 200 men, cost £40,000, the total expenditure being nearly
£90,000, and the revenue £48,000. But this heavy deficit was mainly due to
the losses caused by the cattle plague, drought and sickness, in the years 1896-97.

This arrangement has been in force throughout the Bechuanaland Proteeborate
since the year 1895, when the Crown Colony became an integral part of Capo
Colony, with the right of representation in the Cape Parliament. Here the
Bechuana natives, having lost their tribal political organisation, are gradually
giving up their tribal traditions and social usages, and thus adapting themselves
to the conditions of higher civilised communities. The change is being effected
all the more easily since most of them have accei)ted Christianity, and taken to
tillage as well as stock-breeding, for which South Bechuanaland is well adapted.

Basutoland. — Head Waters of the Orakoe.

Before the irruption of the Dutch Boers into the regions lying north of the
Orange, the western and eastern Bechuana peoples dwelt side by side, occupying
conterminous camping-grounds. But the narrow end of the wedge once inserted,
the two main sections of this ethnical group became gradually riven asunder.
The European squatters creeping up the banks of the Orange and Caledon, and
then reaching the waterparting between the Orange and Vaal, encroached inch by
inch on the pasture-lands, driving the original occupiers of the soil to the right
and left. While the western Bechuanas crossed the Yaal, the eastern tribes of
the same race, grouped under the name of Basutos (Ba-Suto, or " Paunched "),
were compelled to retreat towards the upland Maluti and Drakenberg valleys.

BiLSUTOLAND.

167

After founding the Orange Free State, which territory belonged originally
to the Basutos, the Boers, if left to themselves, would certainly have sooner or later
dispossessed the natives of their last highland retreat, for the frontier wars had
never been interrupted except for brief intervals of time. But meanwhile the

Fig. 52. — Basutola^'d.
Scale 1 : 2,000,000.

OJ lliles.

English made their appearance, at first to secure the independence of the Basutos,
and then to prevent the further encroachments of the Boers by extending the
British protectorate to the whole region. But troubles arose between the natives
and their new masters, and the edict calling upon the mountaineers to disarm was
followed by a general rising, in which the British troops were more than once

168 SOUrn AND EAST AFETCA.

repulsed. The pacification of the country was at last cfTocted, at a cost to the
Imperial exchequer of over £4,000,000.

Basutoland, which is clearly marked off towards the south-east, cast, and north-
east by the main crest of the South African orop;raphic system, and on the west by
the course of the Caledon River, is now annexed to the colonial territory, but is
separately administered by a Resident Commissioner under the direction, of the
High Commissioner for South Africa. It has an area of a little over 10,000 square
miles, with a somewhat dense population, at least compared with most other
South African lands. The census returns of 1891 gave a total population of over
218,000, which in 1898 had already risen to about 255,000, or nearly twenty-five
to the square mile. Amongst the inhabitants are some thousand Barolong
refugees from the Orange Free State, and about six hundred white settlers,
missionaries, traders, and officials.

Of all brandies of the Bechuana family the Basutos have been the most
carefully studied. Since the year 1833, French and other Protestant missionaries
have been labouring in their midst, studying the national usages and contributing
to modify them. Completely hemmed in as they are by the territories already
occupied by European settlers — Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Natal — the
Basutos have adapted themselves to their new environment with much intelligence.
In most other lands contact with the whites has been followed by the decay and
even extinction of the inferior races ; but the Basutos have successfully passed
through the critical period of assimilation. "While increasing their store of know-
ledge and acquiring habits of industry', they retain the full vitality of the race and
are rapidly increasing in numbers. Half a century ago their domain was almost
uninhabited ; now it is one of the most flouri.shing countries in Africa.

The civilisation of the Basutos is not merely an outward veneer, nor does it
consist exclusively in the substitution of woollen and cotton garments imported
from England for the native kaross of imdressed skins, or in the building of little
brick and stone houses instead of hovels made of mud and foliage. Thanks to the
schools, to the support of which the nation devotes most of its income, the average
standard of education is already higher than amongst many European populations,
and at the public examinations the Basutos often take higher places tlian the
competitors of European descent. Thousands sf)eak English and Dutch ; they
read Se-Chuaua books and periodicals, and although nearly all Christians (about
one-sixth of the whole nation have been educated under missionaries), they are
not satisfied with slavishly accepting and repeating what thej^ are told. Some
amongst them have learnt to think for themselves, to discuss religious and social
problems, and follow their own personal views.

The various tribes have moreover discontinued their internecine strife, and
war has ceased to be a permanent institution. The nomad pastors, plundered of
thair herds, are no longer reduced to cannibalism, which formerly prevailed
evcrj^where, and the natives now regard with as much horror as do the whites the
now abandoned " caves of the man-eaters." A sentiment of national coherence
has replaced the petty village feuds, and thanks to this spirit of solidarity, com-

BASUTOLAND. 169

binod with tho valour displayed on many a hard-fouglit battlefield, the Basutos
have succeeded to a large extent in safeguarding their political autonomy under
the supreme British authoritj'. Formerly they contracted marriages vnthin close
degrees of kindred, a practice which seemed an abomination to the Kafirs of the
seaboard, who are not only exogamous, but even abstain from taking wives in
foreign families bearing the same name as their own.

The Basutos possess at present far more numerous herds than they did fifty
years ago, when rapacious beasts still infested the neighbourhood of every camping-
ground. They stiU regard the care of homed cattle and of their new acquisition,
the horse, as the occupation most worthy of freemen. For some years of their
youth the sons of the chiefs arc obliged to lead the lives of simple herdsmen, and
the chiefs themselves at times leave their royal residences to tend the herds and
lead them to fresh pastures. In the villages the central space near the khotla, or
chief's residence, is always reserved for the cattle.

But to this national industry, chief source of their prosperity, the Basutos add
an intelligent system of agriculture. Already several thousands of ploughs have
been introduced into their upland valleys ; nor do they now confine their attention,
as formerly, to the cultivation of sorgho, their favourite cereal. They also raise
crops of several other varieties, as well as of most European fruits, the superfluous
produce of their fanns now contributing towards the regular support of the inha-
bitants of Cape Colony. Every village is surrounded by orchards, and such is the
natural fertilit}' of the weU-watered soil that this region has become one of the
granaries of South Africa. The land itself is still held in common by the whole
community, so that its cultivation has not yet divided the nation into a privileged
wealthy and indigent proletariate class. The actual tiller alone has any right to
the results of his labour, and should he cease to cultivate his allotment and remove
elsewhere, he is compelled to restore it to the tribal chief, by whom it is assigned
in the name of the commime to another holder.

In favourable years the value of the agricultural produce exported to Cape
Colony and the Diamond Fields has exceeded £200,000. Like the natives of Savoy
and Auvergne, the Basutos also send everj' year to the surrounding regions a
number of yoimg emigrants who, sooner or later, return viith a modest fortune to
the paternal home. They have seldom any difiiculty in finding employment, such
is their long-standing reputation for honesty and perseverance. But when the
wages agreed upon are withheld, they are apt to indemnify themselves by carrying
off the cattle of their employers. Hence arise frequent difficulties with the Orange
Free State, where most of the Basuto emigrants seek work.

Some good roads alreadj' penetrate far into the upland valleys ; the slopes of
the mountains are being yearly brought more and more under cultivation, and
thus is being gradually created a jjublic fund for keeping the higliways in repair
and supporting the local schools. There arc numerous deposits of platinimi in the
surrounding higlilands ; but although the country abounds in mineral resources,
scarcelj' any of the mines have yet been worked.

T/iiiba Bofisitjo {TIuiIhi Bos><ut), that is, the "Mountain of Night," the chief

170 SOUTU AND EAST AFRICA.

town in Basutoland, stands at an elevation of over 5,000 feet at the foot of a
table-shaped bluff on the cast side of a stream flowing to the Caledon. From the
summit of this rock the famous King Moshcsh, or the " Shaver," so called because
he had succeeded in " shaving off " the heads of all his rivals, long defied the
attacks of the Zulus by rolling down huge boulders on his assailant?. Ultimately
he managed to conciliate these fugitives from their own land by sendin,'>; them
cattle and offering them his friendship.

Most of the other towns in Basutoland, such as Leribf, Bcrea, and Bcthesda,
have at different times been the residence of tribal chiefs or missionary stations.
Maseru, which lies in the Thaba Bossigo district, not far from the left bank of the
Caledon, is the residence of the British Commissioner.

The Basuto chiefs have ceased to be anything more than the subordinates of
the European magistrates. Against their sentences appeal may be made to the
English tribunal, which decides definitely. Nevertheless a jnvho, or general
assembly of all the tribes, still meets annually for the discussion of affairs of
common interest. The marriage laws have been modified, and polygamists are
permitted to register the stipulated payment of cattle only for the purchase of
their first wife, all subsequent matrimonial contracts being null and void before the
law. As amongst the Kafirs on the eastern slope of the mountains, the hut tax
is fixed at ten shillings. The use of alcoholic drinks is officially interdicted, but
a brisk contraband trade is carried on between Basutoland and the Orange Free
State. Even before the present administration the great chiefs were forbidden to
drink beer. In their position as judges they are expected always to keep a per-
fectly clear head, and the rule has now been usefully extended to all their «ubj cots.

Kafirland.

Since the year 1885 the eastern slope of the main coast range comprised
between the rivers Kei and Um-Fumodna has, like Basutoland, been entirely
annexed to Cape Colony. But British immigrants and dealers stiU penetrate very
cautiously into the country, and in certain districts are for the present even
forbidden to settle at all. The supreme colonial authority is represented by
magistrates residing with the tribal chiefs, and these magistrates at the same time
take care that the lands reserved to the Kafirs are not encroached on by Euroijcan
squatters. Nevertheless the ceaseless work of onward pressure, which began with
the landing of the Dutch at the foot of Table Mountain, still continues in \'irtue
of a sort of natural law, owing to which the two colonies of the Cape and Natal
constantly tend to join hands across the intervening Kafir territory and thus form
a continuous zone of European settlements from the Orange estuary to Delagoa
Bay.

This racial tendency is all the more active that Kafirland presents special
attractions to immigrants, being at once the most salubrious, fertile, and pic-
turesque region in the whole of Austral Africa. In 1877, twenty years after
the failure of a first attempt at colonisation, the British settlers were invited to

KAFIELAND.

171

accept concessions of land in the Transkei district, between the Kci and Kogha
rivers. Some years ago a European Society also acquired one of the finest tracts in
this region, the territory traversed by the lower St. John River (TJra-Zimvubu),
■which is sooner or later destined to become the chief outlet for the inland districts

30'

52-

T.l:^h-

Fig. 53. — Kafieland.
Scale 1 : S.TSO.OM.

>C-'a'T

Fast of Greenw;ch. 28"

Depths.

0 to 1.000
rathoras.

1,000 Fathoms
and upwards.

CO MUes.

between the Cape and Natal. Since 1887 this territory is directly administered
by the British authorities.

The future possession of the whole land is thus being gradually prepared by

these little isolated settlements. But although the Kafirs are no longer the

political masters of a region wrested by their forefathers from savage tribes who

etiU used stone arms and implements,* they nevertheless still constitute nearly

• John Sanderson, " Stone Implements of Natal," Anthropological Journal.

172 # SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

the whole population. Thanks to the Pax Britannica now prevailing among all
the tribes, the annual rate of increase i.« considerable. Accurate statistics are still
wanting, but most resident Europeans are unanimous in asserting that the steady
growth of the population caused by the natural excess of births over the mortality
is altogether phenomenal. Hence of all South African regions Kafirland is
already the most densely peopled in proportion to its extent. In 1877 tho<various
estimates ranged from four hundred thousand to five hundred thousand, and at
present the number of inhabitants considerably exceeds half a million in an area
of not more than sixteen thousand square miles, or about thirty-two to the square
mile. Exclusive of Pondoland, the census of 1891 gave a population of 48(i,000.
Should this rate of increase be maintained, it may be asked whether the natives
may not again gradually acquire the upper band, as they have already done in
Central America and in parts of South America.

In the widespread family of Bantu peoples the Kafirs take a foremost position
for physical beauty, strength, courage, and intelligence. In many ethnological
works representing the various types of mankind, the European whites are figured
by the statues of gods and goddesses, borrowed from the classic period of the plastic
arts. But while the noble " Caucasian," son of Prometheus, thus presents himself
under the ideal form portrayed by the great artists of antiquitj', the members of
other races, black, yellow, or red, are shown in these collections handsome or ugly,
young or old, healthy or infirm, just as they happen to pass before the object-
glass of the photographer, and occasionall}' even as figured by the pencil of the
caricaturist. But such a method of procedure is unfair to the so-called " inferior
races." At any rate, it is certain that were the artist to reproduce at haphazard a
given number of Europeans and of Kafirs, he would find, not amongst the former but
amongst the latter, the largest nimibcr of individuals approaching the standard of
perfect beauty, both as regards regularity of features and symmetrical proportions.

The superiority claimed by the white race is true onlj' when the comparison is
restricted to picked specimens. In this case the cultured race is undoubtedly the
finer of the two, and here the same difference is observed between the fair and the
dark human tj'pes as between the wild beast and the animal improved by the stock-
breeder. The noblest specimens of the Kafir race would appear to be precisely
those dwelling in the neighbourhood of the Europeans and under their influence ;
for, as Gustav Frifsch well remarks, "Civilisation alone can complete the human
ideal." The Kafir features have never the same delicacy as is found in those of
the finest Europeans. Thej^ are decidedly coarse in comparison, and the lips espe-
cially are nearly alwaj-s too thick and tumid. But the Kafirs, as well as the Hot-
tentots, are usually endo'o ed with far greater keenness of vi.sion, and Daltonism is
an affection unknown among the natives of Africa. The valour of the Kafirs, and
especially their power of dogged resistance, the ]<]ng]ish have had ample occasion
to admire and respect during the long warfare carried on between the two races.
A memorable instance was certainly the heroic endurance displayed by the Ama-
Kosa people during the terrible year of voluntary famine, to which they fell
victims in tens of thousands.

[^^H.^'\«'u;'-r

KAFIR MAN AND WOMAN.

THE FINGOS. 173

All Europeans who have taken part in the education of the children amongst
the numerous Kutir tribes, bear witness to the keen vivacity of their intelligence.
Their mental vigour would almost seem to be too intense, to judge at least from
the great number of idiots found amongst them. The customs of the Kafirs, which
appear to have originally resembled those of the allied Bechuana people, have
already -jbeen profoundly modified by contact with their European neighbours.
Formerly those Kafirs who had acquired some religious notions through their
intercourse with the surrounding peoples, applied to the supreme being the name
of Thiko, from the Hottentot TJti-ko, the " Evil-doer," or better, the " Mischief-
maker."

The Fingos.

The Fingos (Ama-Fingu, or "Wanderers," "Vagabonds"), who formerlj'
dwelt much farther to the north in the Tugela River valley, whence they were
expelled by the Zulu conqueror, Chaka, have retained little of their Kafir nation-
ality beyond the name. After their expulsion they had fallen into the hands of
the Ama-Kosas, who had gradually reduced them to the position of slaves, at the
same time distorting their name so as to give it the meaning of " Dogs." Hence
sprang a deadly hatred between the two nations, calling for the ultimate interven-
tion of the English to put a stop to the intolerable oppression of the Ama-Kosas.
Accepting the offer of lands made to them by the colonial Government, the Fingos
emigrated in abody and settled on the banksof theGrcat Fish Eiver. Here theyagain
became freemen, and on payment of the hut tax of ten shillings, acquired the owner-
ship of the land cultivated by themselves. They, moreover, became the steadfast
allies of the English against their former masters, and it was largely through their
co-operation that the Ama-Kosas were at last compelled to acknowledge themselves
vanquished. East of the Kei River they surrendered vast tracts, which, by a sort
of Nemesis, were assigned for the most part to the very " Dogs," whom they had
long treated with such dire cruelty.

At present the Fingo Kafirs have become largely intermingled with the settlers
of European origin, and this mixed people number altogether about a hundred
thousand soids, settled partly in the colony properly so called, and partly in the
Transkei district. They now wear the same clothes as the whites, guide the plough
after the fashion of the English and German peasants, send their children to
schools supported by their own voluntarj^ contributions, edit newspapers, translate
European poetry, and even compose musical tunes for their national songs. Nearly
all call themselves Christians, and constitute the proletariate class in the eastern
districts of the South African colony.

The two chief centres of population in the Fingo territory within Kafirland
properly so called, and cast of the Kci, arc Naniaqua and Buftcrtcorth, both of
which places are situated on eastern affluents of that river.

171 SOUTH AND EAST Al'EICA.

The Am.\-Kosas and Oaliekas.

The Ama-Kosas (Khosa, Xosa) wore till recently the masters and oppressors of
the Fingos, to whora they were at last compelled to surrender the western districts
of the Transkoi and the valleys stretching thence to the Great Fish llivcr. Of
all the Kafir nations the Ama-Kosas have suffered most from their protrac/cd wars
with the Europeans. Lying in the immediate vicinity of the English settlers,
they were the first to attack and the first to feel the superiority of the white race.
But still mindful of their past glories, they nevertheless continued to regard them-
selves as the noblest branch of the Kafir family, and the surrounding tribes readily
recognised their claim to the foremost position. In any case they differ little
from their neighbours, except in their tribal groupings and political traditions.
Even their national speech can scarcely be distinguished from the other dialects
current in the whole region of the seaboard as far north as Delagoa Bay. Nor has
their tribal name any special ethnical value, for the Ama-Kosas, like most other
Kafir groups, are named after some chief famous in the national records.

Of the Ama-Kosas the chief historical divisions are the Galekas and the
Gaikas, who also take their names from illustrious chiefs, reputed founders of
these tribes. But the Gaikas have almost disappeared as a distinct group.
Removed in the 5-ear 1851 to a territory west of the Biver Kei which has
long been settled by British colonists, they have been dispersed amongst the faini-
steads and outskirts of the towns, as day labourers and domestic servants, and thus
gradually become merged with the rest of the population. The Gaika tribe is in
fact completely broken, and has lost all sense of its national unity.

But the Galekas stiU dwell in a compact body on their o^-n tribal domain.
This district comprises nearly half of the whole territory comprised between the
rivers Kei and Bashee. Here they constituted in 1875 a imited population of
nearly seventy thousand souls. They are thus by far the most numerous branch of the
Ama-Kosa Kafirs, who number altogether not much more than a hundred thousand.

Most of the Galekas have preserved their ancient habits and customs. The
young man still purchases his bride with so many head of cattle, and the number
of his wives stands in direct proportion to his means. But it is not the women, as
amongst the Bechuanas, but the men, who in Kafirland milk the cows. No woman
would even be tolerated within the sacred enclosure reserved for the cattle, her
mere presence being regarded as a profanation. Here the wife is held in contempt
and treated as a slave. She is forbidden to pronounce the name of any male
member of the household ; nor dare she even utter sounds or sjdlables occurring in
such names, and is thus compelled to invent a new vocabulary differing from that
of the men. Formerly, ill-favoured children were killed, wbile the others were
pricked in various parts of the body, a little protecting amulet being inserted \mder
the skin, after which both infant and mother were rubbed over with red ochre.

The chiefs were great personages, placed above the laws by which other mortals
are governed. They had the right to confiscate their subjects' propertj', and the
privilege was even extended to their sons, who stole and plundered without let or

TEMBULAND. 175

hindrance. In fact, ilio common folk were expected to feel honoured and flattered
bv the whims and fancies of ihcir masters. Till reccntlj- chiefs alone were honoured
with sepulture, the bodies of their subjects being thrown into the bush. Nor was
it always thought necessary to await their death before they were dragged from
their huts through a breach purposely made in the enclosure. But in the case of
great chjefs the funeral rites lasted for weeks together. Friends kept vigils about
the grave to protect it from the aerial spirits and the inclemency of the weather.
At times those vigils lasted a whole j'car, and those keeping watch then became
sacred in the eyes of their fellow-countrymen. Cows were driven within the pre-
cincts of the tomb, and being thereby sanctified, were henceforth regarded as
protecting genii, that could neither be eaten nor sold. These precincts were also
regarded as places of refuge, like the mediscval sanctuaries, at the threshold of
which the avenging arm of justice was arrested.

At first sight it might be supposed that little public spirit could exist amongst
a people who thus surrounded the person of their chief with such marks of super-
stitious homage. Nevertheless, the Ama-Kosas are well able, when called upon,
to defend their traditional civil rights against their very chiefs. They have on all
occasions given signal proof of a highly developed national sentiment as well as a
strong spirit of fellow-feeling in the family relations. Those called upon to pay a
fine in cattle which they are unable to discharge may always rely on their kinsmen
to come to their aid.

Tembuland.

Tombuland, that is, the territory occupied by the Tembu nation, develops a
semicircle to the north and east of the districts held by the Fingos and Galekas.
Beginning at the Kwathlamba Mountains, and comprising several upland valleys
draining to the Kel River, it stretches south-eastwards through a portion of the
fluvial zone which is bounded by the Bashee and Um-Tata rivers. The Tcmbus,
or Aba-Tembus, who are more generally known by the name of Tambookies, are
a powerful people numbering in 1891 (last return) 175,000. Although frequently
compelled by the vicissitudes of war to shift their camping-grounds with their
herds and families, they have suffered comparatively little from the changes
brought about by the gradual encroachments of the whites, and now accept with
resignation, if not with gratitude, the jurisdiction of the British magistrates.

Tembuland is intersected by accessible roads and even by telegraph lines, and
mining operations have already been commenced in the coalfields discovered in
these highlands. A town in the strict sense of the word has even been founded
in the district. Umtata, as it is called, stands on the east bank of the river of like
name, above the magnificent falls, which are exceeded in romantic beauty by few
others in this region. The neighbouring Bomvana people, who dwell, to the number
of thirty thousand, in the maritime district comprised between the Bashee and the
Umtata rivers, have hitherto had but little contact with the British colonists, and
till recently little was known about their territory.

176

SOUTH AND EAST Ai'fiICA,

PONDOI.ANI).

Poudoland, or country of tbe Pondo people, comprises over half of the sea-
board of Katirlaud between the Umfata and the Umtafuna on the Natal frontier.
Thanks to their remoteness from Cape Colony, this branch of the Kafir fajnily had
succeeded in maintaining their independence longer than any other branch of the
Kafir people. But the incessant tribal feuds, sanguinary conflicts between rival

Fig. 54.— South Eafiblans.

Scale 1 : 1,600,000.

-^^"^

Lmtata

h G st of ureef\wich

. 30 Miles.

chiefs, and other disorders, at last called for the intervention of the paramount
power, and in 1894 Pondoland was annexed to Cape Colony. It has an area of
about 4,000 square miles, and a population estimated in 1899 at 166,000. The
Pondos are divided into several tribal groups, such as the Ama-Kongwe, Ama-
Kongwela, Ama-Kobala, Ama-Kwera, Ama-Nyati, Ama-Bala, Ama-Yali and
others, some of whose chiefs have, since the annexation, accepted the position of
stipendiary magistrates under the Cape Government.

GEIQU ALAND EAST. 177

The surface of the country is already dotted over with several little centres of
population, which are destined gradually to become English towns. At the
mouth of the St. John River, in Pondoland, has also been founded the seaport
which cannot fail to become the chief emporiiun of the whole seaboard between
East London and Durban. Palmcrton is an important missionary station, which
is gradually acquiring the aspect of a to\vn, and promises one day to become a
populous place.*

Griqualand East.

The north-west section of Kafirland, which is separated from Basutoland by
the Drakenberg Range, and bounded on the north-east by the colony of Natal, on
the south by Pondoland and Tembuland, is officially designated by the name of
Griqualand East. It is now, however, inhabited mainly by tribes of different
origin from the Griquas ; amongst them are several Kafir groups, including the
Pondomisi, the Ama-Bakas, the Ama-Xesibes, and even a few Fingos. The
Griquas, who gave their name to the district, number at present not more than
two or three thousand out of a total population of 153,000 in 1891 (last return).
They formerly dwelt with the other Griquas, or Bastaards, on the plateaux watered
by the Upper Orange ; but after long migrations in various directions, they separated
from the rest of the nation, and under a chief bearing the Dutch name of Adam
Kok, settled in the year 1862 on the eastern slope of the Drakenberg Mountains.
Here they gradually acquired possession, under the British suzerainty, of the
territory which was hitherto known as " No Man's Land," but which might with
more propriety have been called " Everybody's Land," such was the multitude of
immigrants from all the surrounding tribes that here found a refuge.

Griqualand East is crossed by the main highway between the Cape and Natal,
which after skirting the frontier of Pondoland passes by the capital, the Dutch
town of Kokstad, which is situated on a headstream of the St. John over 5,000
feet above sea-level. MataticI, another large village, lies in the mountainous
western district at the converging point of several tracks leading to the crest of
the watcrparting between the Orange basin and the coast streams. Several
Basuto families, crowded out of their own territory, have crossed the divide with
their herds and settled in the upland valleys on the eastern slope of the main

AFRICA IV.

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CHAPTER V.

NATAL AND ZULULAND.

HE "Cape" owes its name to Bartholomew Diaz; Natal to the still
more illustrious navigator, Vasco de Gama, who first sighted a
verdant headland breaking the monotony of this seaboard on
Christmas Day (" Natal "), 1497. But more than three centuries
elapsed before this station on the ocean highway between Europe
and India was permanently occupied. Portuguese skippers visited the coast
from time to time to re^•ictual their ships ; then the Dutch, who succeeded the
Portuguese as masters in the southern waters, attempted on several occasions to
secure a footing at Port Natal. But all such essays proved abortive, nor was it
till 1824 — that is, nearly three hundred and thirty years after its discovery — that
some twenty English settlers from the Cape established the first centre of Euro-
pean colonisation on the spot where now stands the cit}' of Durban. At that time
the surrounding district had been almost depopiJated by .the ravages of Chaka,
the terrible king of the Zulus. The native tribes had either been exterminated or
compelled to migrate southwards, and all the land between the sea and the moun-
tains had been transformed to a " howHng wilderness." At present the colonial
territory has an area, including Zululand, of 85,000 square miles, and a population
(1898) of nearly 830,000.

Although the coimtry was first settled by colonists of British descent, there
was a time when the Dutch Boers threatened to acquire the numerical superiority
in Natal as well as on the opposite slope of the Drakenbcrg range. They might
even have permanently secured the political supremacy in this region but for
their military reverses, followed by the active intervention of the British authori-
ties. The great exodus of the Boers from Cape Colony towards the xmknown
lands of the interior was partly deflected in this direction, and in the year 1834
the first pioneers already began to make their appearance on the passes leading
over the coast range. By dint of patience and energy they at last succeeded in
reaching the opposite slope, and by the end of 1837 nearly a thousand waggons,
with their long teams of cattle, liad crossed the Drakcnberg divide and occupied
the river valleys draining to the Indian Ocean.

NATAL. 179

But Dingaan, king of the Zulus, who had at first encouraged the new arrivals
to take possession of the territory depopulated b}' his brother Chaka, became
alarmed at this continually increasing stream of foreign immigration. Under the
pretext of a public feast to celebrate the cession of some lands to the Boers, he
in\'ited them to his kraal and caused them all to be treacherously massacred.
Thus beg-an a terrible war, which was carried on by both parties with relentless
cruelty. In the first serious engagement on the banks of a southern affluent of
the Tugela, the Boers were routed with a loss of seven himdred men, women, and
children. The name of Weenen, or "Weeping," stiU marks the spot where this
butchery took place. Nevertheless the survivors, entrenched within the enclosure
formed by their waggons, and keeping up a deadly fire from this vantage ground,
succeeded at last in repulsing the savage hordes surrounding the encampment.

Firearms here got the better of the assegai, and the whites soon resumed the
offensive. They even crossed the Tugela and invaded Zululand itself. In 1840
they had already gained the upper hand, and having dethroned Dingaan, secured
a steadfast ally in his brother and successor. Panda. These events were followed
by the establishment of the free republic of Natalia, a name by which this region
is still known to the Boers of Transvaal. To the capital of the new state they
gave the name of Pieter Maritzburg, in which are commemorated the two chief
pioneers of the great trek : Pieter Retief and Gevrit Maritz,

But the government of Cape Colony refused to recognise the new state, and
hastened to despatch some troops in order to take possession of the country in the
name of Great Britain. This somewhat high-handed measure has given rise to
much angry discussion, and the supreme authority has been severely censured by
carping tongues for having pursued a career of ambitious conquest under the cloak
of humanitarian sentiments. The English, it was said, took possession of
"Natalia" prof essedly ' through philanthropic motives, in order to protect the
Dutch from the Zulus and the Zulus from the Dutch, whereas the latter neither
demanded nor needed protection.* But the prior rights of the English settlers
at Durban had to be considered, and it was notorious that wherever they estab-
lished themselves in an independent position, the Dutch trekkers were introducing
the institution of domestic slavery, which had been abolished by the Imperial
Government throughout the South African colonies.

In any case, after having successfully resisted the invaders in a first engage-
ment, the Boers were compelled to yield to numbers, and gradually withdrew to
the upland vaUeys. Some remained behind, and in course of time became merged
in the British population. But most of the Dutch immigrants, enraged at seeing
a country wrested from them which they had conquered at the price of so much
blood, again set out on their wanderings in quest of a permanent home, and after
retracing their steps across the Drakenberg Eange, joined their fellow-country-
men, who had already reached the Transvaal. At present, except in a few central
districts and in the extreme north-west corner of the colony, no trace remains of
the Dutch in Natal beyond a few geographical names. English is everywhere

• Anthony Trollope, South Africa.
11 2

180

SOUTH AND EAST APEICA.

the exclusiTO language of the settlers, of the courts of justice and the schools, and
serves as the medium of intercourse with the natives.

The Natives op Natal.

These aborigines have never ceased to be attracted to tho colony of Natal,
which after the -wars of extermination offered so many unoccupied tfacts witli

Tig. 55.— Natal.
Scale 1 : 2,800,000.

Easbof GreenwicVi

. CO Miles.

plentifiJ pasturage for their herds. At the first arrival of the English in 1824
they numbered scarcely more than three thousand ; bj' the year 1848 they had
increased to no less than a hundred thousand, and since then they have augmented
at least sevenfold, not only by the natural excess of births over the mortality, but
also by constant immigration down to the present time. Formerly the estimates

NATIVES OF NATAL. 181

for the Kafir population were made in a somewhat summary way, but since the
European method has been introduced accurate returns of births and deaths are
obtained, and the census of 1898 showed a native population of 714,000 for Natal
alone, while that of Zululand was estimated at 196,000.

The aborigines now settled in Natal belong to a great number of distinct
tribes, ^ut the line of migration has on the whole followed that of conquest in
J the direction from north to south ; hence the great bulk of the immigrants who
have thus become British subjects naturally belong to the Zulu, or northern
branch of the Kafir family. They are still grouped in separate clans, unconnected,
however, by any political ties, and the administration has taken the wise precau-
tion of breaking them up into an endless number of distinct communities. In
1886 there were reckoned in the whole of Natal no less than a hundred and seventy-
three tribal chiefs, and of this number nearly one-half had been directly appointed
by the Government without any hereditary title whatsoever. Such chiefs thus
gradually become mere local officials responsible for the preservation of peace, while
they are themselves under the immediate control of English administrators, who
tolerate the observance of the tribal customs so long as these are not of a nature
calculated to cause any manifest injustice and provided thej' are not at variance
with the established principles of natural equity. Thanks to these judicious
administrative measures, no war between the black and white elements has red-
dened the soU of Natal since the death of the Zulu chief, Dingaan. Notwith-
standing the great personal influence of the famous Anglican Bishop Colenso, the
Wesleyan Methodists seem on the whole to have had most success in this field of
missionary labour. Of the hundred and sixty Christian stations now existing in
Natal as many as fifty-eight have been founded by these Nonconformists.

IiniiGRATiox. — Coor.iE Labour.

Direct immigration from Europe acquired but little importance before the
middle of the century. About this time a group of British farmers, mostly from
Yorkshire, settled in the colony of Natal. Some German peasants also arrived
and took possession of concessions of land in the neighbourhood of the port. The
white population was afterwards increased by a nimiber of Norwegian settlers as
well as by some Creoles from Mauritius and Reunion. But despite the advantages
offered by the climate to all except those of a nervous temperament or with a
predisposition to apoplexy, the spontaneous annual immigration has never
exceeded a few hundred persons ; a counter-movement has even set in from Natal
to Australia and New Zealand.

This relative neglect of Natal by British colonists has been attributed to a
great variety of causes. The system of large landed estates prevails in the colony,
the consequence being that the owners do not themselves work or always even
reside on their properties. They employed coolies and native hands, so that the
whites who give themselves to manual labour become degraded in the eyes of the
aborigines. Immigrants are also naturally discouraged by the great and increasing

182 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

numerical preponderance of the Zulu- Kafirs. But this decided disparity between
the white and coloured elements has alarmed the great English landowners them-
selves ; hence societies have been established for the purpose of introducing into
the colony European artisans, workmen, and domestic servants, to whom a free
passage is offered on the condition of their entering into engagements of greater
or less duration. In the period between 1878 and 1884 the emigrant vessels
landed as many as 4,526 of these invited guests, or a yearly average of G46
persons, who have certainly contributed gradually to develop a liealthy middle
class between the great landowners and the natives. The men being more nume-
rous than the women, the latter have no difficulty in finding partners in life, so
that there are no old maids in Natal as in England. The European population
thus also regularly increases by the normal excess of births over deaths. The in-
crease from this source and direct immigration was at the rate of 2,472 a year
between 1880 and 1884, when all assisted immigration was stopped for some time.
But in 1891 the Natal Government again devoted £10,000 to immigration pur-
poses, and since then the white population rose from 47,000 to 61,000 in 1898.

To cultivate their extensive domains the English proprietors in Natal have had
recourse chiefly to imported labour, Hindu coolies mainly from the Bengal and
Madras presidencies. At first they tried to utilise the Kafir element, and in many
places are still obliged to fall back occasionally on the aborigines. But there is
little love lost on either side, and on Ihe termination of their engagement, usually
for one or two years, the Kafirs quit the farms and return to their respective
tribes. At times they even contrive to get recalled by their chiefs before the
stipulated term of service has expired The Kafir works in any case grudgingly
for a master. lie has, as a rule, his own hut, his own field of maize, and perhaps a
few head of cattle ; hence when asked by Europeans to take service for a salary,
he is apt indignantly to decline, and even to turn the tables by asking the white
to accept emploj-ment under him.

Thus the Natal planters are naturally driven to cast about for less independent
hirelings. They have tried Hottentots and members of tribes more to the north ;
but find the mild Hindu more suitable for their purpose. The colonial Govern-
ment advances the funds required to recruit these Asiatics, who are supplied to
the various plantations according to the demand. The period of contract is usually
for ten years, and in return for his daily labour of from eight to ten hours the
coolie receives wages at the rate of about twelve shillings a month, besides his
food, lodging, and an outfit. Those who complete the fidl term of their engage-
ment can claim a free passage back to their homes, unless they prefer to offer their
services according to the current prices in the labour market. Many of them
remain in the colony and marry one of their fellow-countrj'women, for the
importers of coolies are bound to introduce both sexes, in the proportion of forty
women to a hundred men. Some become gardeners or owners of small holdings
in the neighbourhood of the towns ; others turn to trade and open shops, usually
in the haberdashery or provision lines, and, thanks to their extreme frugality,
have become formidable competitors with the European dealers^ who loudly com-

EESOUECES OF NATAL. 183

plain of the importation of these troublesome rivals. In 1898 the Hindus settled
in Natal already numbered over fifty-three thousand, and this element is steadily
increasing.

Including with the Europeans and Hindus all other strangers, such as Malays,
Chinese, and half-castes, the foreigners of all kinds now represent about one-sixth
of the whole population of Natal. Nearly all have special occupations according
to their several nationalities. Thus immigrants from St. Helena are generally
coachmen and 'drivers, the Germans farmers or clerks, the Dutch stock-breeders,
the Norwegians fishers, and so on.

Agricultuk.\l Xxd Mineral Resources. — Communications.

The colonial Government has already alienated most of the lands suitable
either for tillage or grazing. Of a total extent of over 12,000,000 acres, including,
however, rocky ground and waste spaces of all sorts, only 650,000 acres were still
undisposed of in 1898, and most of this land was situated in the southern part of
the colony near Pondoland. The groxmd actually cultivated by Europeans now
exceeds 250,000 acres, the chief crops being sugar for exportation, maize, wheat,
and other cereals. The so-called locations, or reserves, secured absolutely to the
Kafirs, represent a total area of 2,250,000 acres. The extent of the allotments
offered for sale or on lease has varied according to the oscillations of the colonial
policy. The first Dutch settlers had afppropriated to themselves lots of 6,000 acres
and upwards, so that about two thousand proprietors would have sufficed to
swallow up the whole territory. Since that epoch the average si2e of the allot-
ments has been considerably less, although many have still exceeded 1,000, or
even 2,000 and 3,000 acres. But in the neighbourhood of towns there is a general
tendency towards the creation of small holdings.

The staple agricultural product of Natal is the " mealie," or maize. This
cereal yields in superabundance all that is required by the Kafirs, the Hindus,
and their domestic animals, leaving sufficient for a considerable export trade. All
other European cereals are also cultivated, and every town and hamlet is sur-
rounded by a zone of gardens or orchards, which have replaced the old forest
vegetation nearly entirely destroyed by the axe or fire. Even the dense mangrove
thickets on the coastlands have been almost everywhere consumed, their incor-
ruptible wood being highly appreciated for all kinds of joiners' work.

Thanks to its sub-tropical climate. Natal also produces plants unknown in the
European temperate zone. But since the year 1872 the extensive cofiee planta-
tions have suffered so much from the ravages of disease that this industry has
been almost abandoned. Attempts have here and there been made to replace it by
tea, and in 1898 the plantations covered about 2,670 acres altogether, yielding
for exportation nearly 850,000 lbs. of this article. Attention has also been paid
to the cultivation of hemp, Phormiiim tenax, and other fibrous plants. On the
plantations of the seaboard the chief cultivated plant is the sugar-cane, which was
introduced in 1851. In 1884 these plantations covered a total extent of 29,000
acres, and produced a crop of 18,771 tons, over a third of which was exported

184 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

" over-berg," that is, to the Boer republics beyond the mountains. Enough
remained to distil 2,200,000 gallons of rum. But since then this industry has
suffered from the competition of the bounty-fed beet-root sugar, and in 1897 the
quantity exported scarcely exceeded £12,000.

The breeding of horned cattle, which was the only industry in Natal during
the first years of the Boer occupation, has diminished in relative importance since
1855, when a destructive plague swept away 9G per cent, of all the animals
attacked. But the herds have been restored by the practice of inoculation, by
the introduction of fresh stock, and an improved sanitary system. In 18'J7 the
live-stock comprised over 240,000 head of cattle, a considerable proportion, rela-
tively at least to the number of inhabitants. There were also nearly 50,000
horses and 600,000 sheep belonging to colonists and natives. But the Natal
pasture-lands are at times visited by millions of sheep belonging to the Boer
grazers of the Orange Free State and Transvaal, who move from place to place
with the seasons. In summer they drive their flocks to the upland valleys of the
western slopes; in winter they cross the dividing range and descend to the
warmer camping-grounds of Natal. The wool yielded by their flocks is also
forwarded through the port of the British colony. The stock-breeders have
introduced the Angora goat ; but they have paid little attention to ostrich farming,
being doubtless deterred by the partial failure of their neighbours in Cape Colony.

Natal contains some deposits of copper, gold, and graphite, and in 1897 gold
was exported to the value of £18,000. But the chief mineral resources of the
country are iron and coal, which occur in the northern districts, especially on both
slopes of the Biggarsberg Range. Here the chief centre of population has
received the name of Newcastle, as if it were destined one day to rival the great
centre of the coalfields in the north of England. The carboniferous district
exceeds 1,400 square miles in extent, and some of the seams are over ten feet
thick. Including the horizontal strata alone that lie near the surface and that
have hitherto been surveyed on the British slope of the Drakenberg, the engineer
North has estimated the quantity of good coal here stored up for future use at
over two billion tons. Till recently this vast accumulation of excellent fuel lay
almost untouched except by the few native blacksmiths of the district. But since
the railway has penetrated into the Upper Tugela Valley and the Boer States, it
is also used for the locomotives. Coal mining cannot fail to become an important
local industry with the development of the railway system, and the establishment
of sugar refineries, smelting furnaces, and factories in the colony.

The Natal railways, all of which belong to the Government, had a total length
of over 480 miles in the year 1898. One important line is already completed,
which runs from Port Natal through Pietcr Maritzburg north-westwards to
Ladysmith, where it branches off west and north over the Drakenberg, thus
effecting a junction with the railway systems of the Dutch republics. These
works are at the same time carried out with the utmost economy consistent with
safety. The steepest gradients exceed one inch in forty; the sharpest curves
have a radius of little over 300 feet, and all the engineering operations have been

TOPOGEAPHY OF NATAL.

185

planned for a single narrow line. The main line successively crosses all the trans-
verse ridges of the eastern slope. Near the village of Westown it attains an
elevation of nearly 5,500 feet, and has had to climb about 300 feet higher in
order to reach the crest of the Drakenberg and penetrate into the Orange Free
State.

The carriage roads, which complete the network of communications in the
colony, are also planned with great skill and daring. Many of them skirt the
deep ravines and ascend the precipitous flanks of the main range in order to reach

Fig. 56. — The BurpF op Natai..
Scale 1 : 240,000.

. S Miles.

the level of the inland plateaux. Most of the main highways converge on Port
Natal, where is centred all the foreign trade of the colony.

Topography of Natal.

The southern district between the Um-Tavuna and Um-Zimkulu rivers is one
of the most thinly peopled in Natal, and here the white squatters arc still scattered
in small and isolated groups amid the surrounding Zulu and Pondo populations.
In this district was, some years ago, founded the Norwegian agricultural settlement

186

SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

of Marburg. It lies within six miles of the little port of Shepstone, wluch is formed
by the estuary of the Um-Zimkulu, but which is often almost inaccessible to ship-
ping. Other so-called " ports," carefully avoided, however, by skippers, follow
northwards along this exposed seaboard, which runs in nearly a straight lino from
the Kafirland frontier to the capital. Such are Fort Harding at the mouth of the
TJm-Zumbi, and Fort Scott in the Um-Pambynioni estuary. But the only part of
the whole coast which is sufficiently indented to offer a largo basin to shipping is
the inlet of Port Natal, sighted by Vasco do Gama in the year 1497. At this
point a ridge of rocks with an average height of 200 feet, running parallel with
the original coastline and afterwards connected by upheaval with the mainland.

Fig. 57.— Poet Natal and Dubban in 1887.

Scale 1 : 90,000.

Sanda exposed at
low water.

(lto7
Feet.

7 to IG
Feet.

Depths.

l(i to 32
Feet.

32 to 80
Feet.

80 Feet and
upwards.

i 2,200 Yards.

terminates at its northern extremity in a blufi or steep headland completely shel-
tering from the winds and surf a spacious inlet, which is all that remains of the
ancient channel between the ridge and the true shore line. At the entrance of
this inlet the action of the waves has gradually developed a spit of sand which has
its root on the northern shore, whence it projects in a south-easterly direction
towards the bluff. Thus is left to shipping only a narrow passage, the sill of
which changes in position and depth with the tides and storms. Formerly the
depth varied at low water from six or seven to sixteen feet, and vessels drawing
over ten feet seldom ventured to cross the bar. But a breakwater running from
the spit of sand towards the north-cast has had the result of increasing the scour

DTJEBAN. 187

of the ebb tides, thus lowering the sill by about two feet, while at the same time
rendering it more capable of resisting the action of the atmosphere and marine
currents.

The city built on the shores of Port Natal was founded in the year 1846, in a
thicket at that time still frequented by elephants. This place, which received the
name of Durban {d' Urban) in honour of a governor of- the Cape, consists in reality
of two distinct towns connected by a railway. These are Port Natal, the marine
quarter, with its piers, docks, and stores grouped near the entrance of the inlet,
and Durban, the city proper, with its broad streets lined with shady trees, its
magnificent sub-tropical gardens, bananas, bamboos, and banians, covering the
gentle slope of a hill on the north side of the bay. This wooded hill, which sweeps
round to the west, is dotted over with pleasant country seats and \-illas, whence a
fine panoramic view is commanded of the bay with its islets and encircling shores.
Here reside most of the wealthy merchants, who have their offices in the city. On
the west side of the estuary is the little hamlet of Congella, memorable as the spot
where the first Boer immigrants formed their camping-ground.

Durban, although not the capital, is the largest town in the colony, and is
remarkable for the cosmopolitan character of its population, including considerable
numbers of Zulu Kafirs, Hindus, Arabs, Chinese, English and other Europeans.
The island of Saliabury in the bay is inhabited by over two hundred Hindus, who
are almost exclusively engaged in the capture and curing of fish for the market of
Durban. Other Hindus occupied with gardening supply the city and neighbour-
hood with fruits and vegetables. Durban suffered from the lack of fresh water
before the construction of an aqueduct, which, since 1886, brings from a distance
of eight miles a superabundant daily supply of no less than 250,000 gallons of
good water.

Thanks to its port and its railways, which run southwards in the direction of
Isipinrjo and the sugar plantations, northward to the town of Verulnm, also lying
in a sugar-growing district, and north-westwards to Pieter Maritzburg, Durban
has become the great centre of trade for the whole of Natal. It also attracts
a large share of the traffic with the Dutch republics, although these states possess
alternative outlets for their produce at Port Elizabeth and Cape Town, and have
also developed their railway system in the direction of Lourenco Marques, with
the view of securing that Portuguese harbour as a convenient seaport on the
Indian Ocean. Despite some gloomy forebodings, the trade of Durban has
suffered little by the opening of the line which gives the Boer States direct access
to the coast at Delagoa Bay. At present its exchanges far exceed in value those
of all the rest of the colony, although the business of Port Natal was certainly
somewhat injured since the time of the great speculations caused by the diamond
and gold fevers. But notwithstanding these temporary checks its general foreign
trade has increased enormously from decade to decade, its average value having
risen from a little over £110,000 between 1846 and 1855 to about £5,000,000
between 1890 and 1898.

Both for exports and imports Great Britain is by far the best customer of

188 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

Natal ; next to the mother country comes Australia, from which it receives con-
siderable supplies of farinaceous substances. But, strange to say, notwithstanding
its close proximity, Cape Colony maintains less trading relations with Natal than
India, the United States, and even Brazil. The local retail business with the
Hindus and natives is almost entirely monopolised by the Arab and other Asiatic
dealers resident in Durban.

On the road from Durban to Picter Maritzburg the only place laying claim to
the title of a town is Puictowu, centre of the Gcnnan population in Natal. A
neighbouring missionary station bears the comprehensive name of Ncu-Dcutschland
(" New Germany "), and an agricultural establishment has been founded in the
vicinity by some Trappist monks, mostly Germans by birth.

Ficter Marilzburt/, or moi'o briefly Maritzburg, capital of Natal, is pleasantly
yitiuited at an altitude of over 2,000 feet above the sea, on a fertile plain wliich is
watered by a southern affluent of the Um-Geni, and which is completely encircled
by gently sloping hills. Maritzburg is one of the most delightful cities in the
whole of Africa, and the rich vegetation of its gardens and surrounding wood-
lands resembles that of the European temperate zone rather than that of tropical
lands. Although less populous than Durban, it has a far more numerous propor-
tion of Government officials and employes. Here also is situated the military camp
occupied by the principal division of troops stationed in the colony. Holding a
central position in the country close to the seat of Government, this little army
can easily be moved in the direction of any point where danger may threaten.
The agricultural colony of Wihjefontein, established in the neighbourhood of
Maritzburg, has turned its attention with great success to the cultivation of spring
fruits and vegetables, which here yield excellent returns.

On the opposite side of the Zwaartkop Range north of this district flows the
Um-Geni, a river famous for its magnificent cascades. One of these, near the
little town of Ilowicl;, tumbles in a single foaming mass over a basalt ledge from
a height which has been variously estimated at from 280 to 320 feet. Lower
down the stream ramifies into several branches, and here numerous picturesque
little falls, separated by intervening reefs and climips of trees, are disposed in a
long line following the rocky bed of the main channel.

Lidfjcttoui), north of Maritzburg, is situated, like the capital and Howick, in the
same valley of the Um-Geni. " Dutch" Greytown, as it is called, lies in the
Upper Um-Voti basin ; but all the other centres of population belong to the
region watered by the Tugcla, the chief river in Natal. Estcourt and Wcenen
("Weeping") follow in succession along the left bank of the Bushman affluent;
Colenso has been founded on the main stream. Lady smith on its tributary the
Klip; Newcastle (4,100 feet) at the northern extremity of the colony, on a small
affluent of the Buffalo, or Upper Tugela. North of Newcastle, at the point where
the territory of Natal impinges on the Orange Free State and Transvaal, rises the
steep Majuba (Ama-Juba) HiU, memorable for the victory gained by the Boers in
1881 over the British troops entrenched on the summit. On these uplands the
crests, peaks, tables, or domes of the mountain ranges rise little above the rolling

ADMINISTEATION OF NATAL. 189

surfaces of the elevated inland plateau. Here the villages lie sheltered from the
keen winds in the depressions of the grassy soil.

Besides Durban and Maritzburg, Verulam, Ladysmith, and Newcastle wero
of sufficient importance in 1886 to be constituted municipal tovras.

, Administration. — Instruction. — Finance.

After its finst settlement in 1824, Natal remained for over thirty years an out-
lying dependency of Cape Colony, from which it was then and long after com-
pletely separated by the territories of the independent Kosas and other Kafir
peoples. But its growing importance induced the Imperial Government to detach
it from the Cape in 1856, when it was constituted a Crown Colony, represented
first by a Lieutenant-Governor, and in 1882 by a Governor under the Colonial
Office. The Charter granted in 1856 had already been modified in 1875, and
again in 1879, always in the direction of a larger measure of self-government.
The process was completed in 1893 by the concession of the Charter now in force,
in virtue of which a Legislative Coimcll and a Legislative Assembly are constituted
under the Queen, represented by the Governor, whose assent Is required to all Bills
before they become law, and who also appoints the Ministers, and, with their
advice, the members of the Legislative Council. This body consists of eleven
officials, who must be at least thirty years of age, residents for ten years In the
colony, and owners of real property of not less than £500. They hold their seats
for ten years, and exercise their functions under a President appointed by the
Governor. The Legislative Assembly, consisting in 1899 of thirty-seven members,
chosen by the electors, is summoned for four years, meets annually, appoints Its
Speaker, and adopts its own standing rules and orders with the approval of the
Governor. Each member receives an allowance of £1 a day during the Session,
and no person can beielected to the Assembly who is not himself a duly qualified
and registered elector. Such qualification requires the possession of immovable
property to the value of £50, and other conditions, by which the franchise Is
practically restricted to the white population. Hence, in 1896 (last return), the
electoral body numbered altogether only 9,208 in a total population at that time of
about 800,000, all Zulu-Kafirs and Indians except about 50,000 Europeans. The
executive Is vested in a body of six Ministers, each of whom must be a member of
one of the legislative bodies. All may take part in the deliberations of either
House, but vote only in that of which they are members.

The central authority appoints the judges of the Supreme Court, the resident
magistrates, and the " field-cornets," who maintain order in the various districts.
It also names the administrators and employes, and even selects the greater part of
the professors and teachers, the public instruction depending to a great extent on
the colonial budget. Durban and Maritzburg have each Its high school, whence
students holding scholarships may pass on to the English universities. The large
towns are provided with primary schools supported by the colonial fimds. A
large number of private schools, especially those belonging to the missions, also
receive Government aid, either in money or land. The examinations in the varioua

190 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

schools aro conducted by special examiners. But notwithstanding all this machi-
nery the proportion of native children who learn to read is very small. In 1898
the total attendance in the 160 schools for aborigines was little over 8,500, while
that of the ^0 schools opened for the children of Indians was about 2,000.

The serious question of colonial defence is the reason why Natal so long
remained under the direct control of the Home Government. The colonistf do not
feel themselves yet strong enough to defend themselves. They arc furrouuded by
populations whose smouldering hostility might easily be rekindled. On the south-
west frontier dwell the Pondos, on the west the Basutos, on the north-west the
Boers, on the north-east the Zulus ; while within their borders they might have at
any moment to face a rising of the natives far outnumbering all the rest of the
population together. In the presence of so many dangers they are fain still to
look to the mother country for help. Besides the Imperial troops — a variable
quantity determined by political contingencies — order is maintained by a body of
moimted police numbering, in 1899, nearly five hundred Europeans, and about
fourteen himdred volunteers, including a naval defence corps of ninety men. In
every town companies of rifles have also been formed, which the Government
encourages by the distribution of prizes, while, on the other hand, strictly for-
bidding the sale of arms to the natives. Since 1856 it has also been made penal
to sell them acoholic drinks, under a penalty of fine or imprisonment. Unfor-
tunately this liuniane law is often violated, especially by the Hindu dealers.

The colonial budget, derived chiefly from customs and railways, land sales,
stamps, excise, post-office, and the native hut tax, usually shows a relatively large
surplus, which in 1897-8 exceeded £580,000. Still, the public debt has doubled
since 1888, being now about £8,000,000. The European colonists themselves pay
no direct taxes, but the postal and telegraph services and State railways cost the
Government much less than they contribute to the revenue% The consequence is
that the finances of the colony are now in a flourishing condition, as 8ho\\Ti by the
fact that the annual grant, which was formerly set apart for assisted immigration,
but liad to be discontinued for some j^ears, was again appropriated to that purpose
in 1890, and the colony was also able, in 1899, to offer the Imperial Government
an annual gift of 12,000 tons of coal for the use of the Royal Navy.

For administrative purposes Natal is divided into thirty-eight magisterial dis-
tricts, to which twelve were added in 1897 for the province of Zululand, incor-
porated in that year.

Zululand.

On repeated occasions the British and Dutch authorities had concluded treaties
with the native chiefs of Zululand, guaranteeing to them the possession of the
territory comprised between the Natal frontier, the border range, and the Portu-
guese possessions. But, as in other parts of Austral Africa, official conventions
were powerless to prevent a chronic state of hostility between the Europeans and
the aborigines, manifested either by occasional incursions of armed bands or by
simple plunder of land and live-stock, but also at times breaking out into open
warfare. The Zulu domain was thus inch by inch encroached upon, especially by

ZULULAND. 191

the Boers descending from the inland plateaux and seizing one camping-ground
after another. A " New Republic " was thus constituted, with the obvious intention
of soon forming it into a maritime province of Transvaal. But this open violation
of their conventions with the suzerain power compelled the interference of Great
Britain, which by extending its protectorate over the southern part of Zululand
in 1887, followed by the occupation of the northern district of Tongaland in 1890,
arrested the aggressive advance of the Transvaal Boers, who were seeking an
independent outlet for their trade on the nearest seaboard to their domain.

Owing to this action of the stronger power all the coastlands from the mouth of
the Tugela to the river Usutu, which flows to Delagoa Bay, belong henceforth to
England. But the upland valleys of the border ranges draining to the Indian
Ocean have become an integral part of the South African Eepublic. The super-
ficial area of the now partitioned land, where predominate the three nations of the
Zulus, Swazis, and Tongas, is estimated at 20,000 square miles, with a total popu-
lation of about two hundred thousand souls. The fragment attached to the Trans-
vaal, and formerly known as the " New Eepublic," comprises nearly 3,000
square miles, while the whole of Zululand, with Tongaland, which was incor-
porated in the colony of Natal in 1897, has an area of about 14,000 square mQes.

The Zulus (Ama-Zulus) are far less numerous in the land where they were till
recently masters than in the colony of Natal, where they are kept under strict
control, but where they have every opportunity of gaining a livelihood by manual
labour. In the territory limited southwards by the Tugela they are at present
estimated at scarcely more than two hundred thousand. But the land has been
for generations wasted by sanguinary wars of succession, followed by foreign
invasions by which whole pro%'inces were depopulated. In 1879 occurred the
final struggle in which the Zulus ventured to make a stand against the English.
Despite their inferior ^Liscipline and defective armaments, they were victorious in
some engagements, notably at Isandhlwana, a spot lying near the left bank of the
Buffalo (Upper Tugela), to the east of its confluence with the Blood Eiver. Here
is situated the ford of Eorke's Drift, the possession of which was frequently dis-
puted as one of the most important strategic points in the whole territory. The
English after seizing it had occupied the eastern terraces of the Buffalo valley,
were surprised by an overwhelming force of Zulus, and one wing of the invading
army annihilated. This event was soon after followed by the death (June 1,
1879) of Prince Napoleon, only son of the dethroned Emperor Napoleon III.,
who had volunteered to serve with the British forces, but who was cut off with a
small party in the bush. But the first reverses were soon repaired and the Zulu
army was completely routed on the banks of the Um-Yolosi Eiver, close to the very
spot where, according to immemorial tradition, was bom the family of Zulu,
founder of the nation. After reducing the country, the English divided it
amongst thirteen protected chiefs, a foolish arrangement which brought about a
series of inter-tribal wars, followed by hopeless anarchy. Then came the encroach-
ments of the Transvaal Boers, leading to the establishment of the British Protec-
torate, which has at length brought a period of repose to this distracted land, the

192 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

scene of almost uninterrupted wars and massacres since the rise of the Zulu
military power early in the present century.

The Zulus.

The Ama-Zulus, or " People of Zulu," that is of the " Heavenly," do, not pre-
sent a physical tj'pe distinct from that of the other Kafir nations in the south-cast
corner of the continent. They are in fact not a separate race, but an amalgam
of all the surrounding tribes that were successively " eaten up " when the original
Zulu group began its career of conquest under Chaka, about the beginning of the
century. The commimities thus devoured by the " Great Lion " were never com-
pletely exterminated, the women and children being usually reserved for the
conquering nation, while the young men were enrolled in the victorious army.
The primitive tribes were doomed to disappear all the more rapidly in the multitude
of the conquered since Chaka had forbidden his warriors to marry. The veterans
alone were permitted to take wives, the number being proportioned to that of the
enemy slain by them in battle. To stifle the growth of the human affections that
might have enervated or incapacitated them for their work of ruthless destruction,
Chaka ordered all new-born babes to be slaughtered. In order to set an example,
he himself celebrated no marriages according to the ancient usages, and caused all
his children to bo put to death at their birth. As a jealous monarch he looked
upon every son born to him as a possible future rival, and preferred to cut him oiY
betimes.

This atrocious ruler, drilling the whole nation like a perfect engine of war,
had sacrificed all other interests of the State to the insatiable thirst of conquest.
The capital was nothing but a military camp, while similar camps were distributed
throughout the whole land. In the villages grouped round the kraals of the
warriors, the women and slaves stored provisions for the army, which was fed
exclusively on a meat diet, milk, the food of the peaceful, being interdicted. The
Zulus, formidable especially for their manner of attack, had abandoned the dart,
which is hurled at a distance, retaining only the assegai or hand-spear, with which
to strike at close quarters. Nor were their irregular hordes any longer flung in
disorder against the enemy, but the well-trained troops were so disposed as gradu-
ally to envelope the opposing forces, attacking first on one flank then on another,
and thus step by step driving them in on the central body, by which they were
then overwhelmed. After the victory all attention was turned to the recovery of
the cattle, which had been driven to a distance from the battlefield, and it was
characteristic of the thoroughness of the system that the very herds were trained
to sudden retreat in disciplined order.

But such a purely military organization necessarily tended to involve the whole
nation in ruin. Foxmded by the sword, the Zulu empire perished by the sword.
After breaking like angry waves against the outspanned waggons encircling the
Boer encampments, the Zulu bands could no longer hope to exterminate the white
intruders, and so turned in fierce internecine warfare one against the other. And

AMATONG ALAND. 193

now these warlike tribes live only on the proud memory of their past heroic deeds
and conquests, perhajjs dimly conscious that these very glories, after bringing
about the destruction of their military power, render the people themselves less
capable than others of turning to peaceful ways, and thus successfully continuing
the struggle for existence. Constituted of so many discordant elements, the Zulu
nation was distinguished from the other branches of the Kafir race mainl}^ by its
warlike institjations and the military ardour engendered by hereditary training.
But being the descendants of picked men, they are generally a handsome people,
tall, vigorous, active, of dignified carriage, and skilful at all bodily exercises.
They possess such natural grace that all costumes alike become them.

At the same time they are fully conscious, if not a little proud, of their physical
advantages, which they endeavour to heighten by the elegant fold of their flowing
toga, by adorning arms, legs, and breast with rings and pearls, and decking the
head with plumes and flowers. The married men are fond of disposing the hair
in the form of a coronet, stiffening it with gum and a mixture of clay and ochre.
Of a kindly cheerful disposition, they seem to harbour no rancorous feeling
against their white conquerors ; but on the other hand, they never forget or forgive
a jJersonal wrong.

Formerly the characteristic fetishes were the assegai and warrior's shield.
Travellers of the past generation describe with a sort of awe the military dances
and processions, when the fierce Zulu men of war, adorned with the horns and tails
of oxen, defiled before their king, the while singing the tidings from the battle-
field, the " news of the assegai." But the obligation to dwell In peace under the
threat of still more potent fetishes, the gun and rifle of the white man, will doubt-
less tend to modify their superstitions and soften their tribal usages. Although
still for the most part refractory to the glad tidings of the gospel, they will
gradually cease to recognise the souls of their forefathers in the familiar snakes
gliding about amid their dwellings. Like their kinsmen In Natal, the Zulus of
the region beyond the Tugela are already exchanging the sword for the plough,
while the hitherto neglected Industrial arts have begun to make some progress in
their village communities. The blacksmith's trade, however, was always held in
honour, and the native metallurgists were long acquainted with the process of
making a more durable iron than that imported by the English, while their
jewellers had learnt to work the copper obtained by them from the Portuguese of
Lourenco Marques.

Amatongaland and Swaziland.

North of Ziduland proper stretches the narrow domain of the peaceful Amatonga
(Ama- Tonga) nation, whose name recalls their former subjection to the Zulu con-
querors. Being farther removed from the Natal frontier, and dwelling in seclu-
sion along the shores of Lake St. Lucia and the coast lagoons, these agricultural
tribes had hitherto kept more aloof from European influences. They were also
protected from intrusion by the malarious climate of the low-lying coastlands
inhabited by them. Nevertheless the ubiquitous German trader, Ei'uleritz, after

AFRICA IV. 0

19t

SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

Fig'. 68. — St. Lucia Lagoon and Baokwatebs.

Scale 1 : 2,000,000.

acquiring the Angra Pequena district for liis countrymen, also attempted to occupy
the maritime territory encircling the St. Lucia lagoon. But Portugal had long
asserted her rights over the whole of this region between the lagoon and Dclagoa

Baj', and especiallj'' over the
basin of the Maputa River from
it.s mouth in the bay as far as
the Lubombo Hills. It was ac-
cordingly announced in March,
1888, that the Queen of Ama-
tongaknd had formally recog-
nised the sovereignty of Por-
tugal over the part of her
territory comprised within the
southern boundaries assigned
to Portugal by the MacMahon
award.

The Amaswazi (Ama-
Swazi) territory lying more
inliind bevond the Lubombo
range was even more seriously
menaced than the Araatonga
domain, for it formed an inter-
vening- zone between the
Transvaal plateau and Delagoa
Bay, and was also known to
abound in mineral wealth.
The Boer graziers often pene-
trated into this district, where
they claimed certain rights of
pasturage, and usually come
armed in order to vindicate
those pretensions against all
comers. On the other hand,
the English of Cape Colony
and Natal demanded in 1887
the appointment of a British
agent to reside with the King
of the Swazi peojjle, and to
afford military aid against the

30 Miles. Boer intruders from the inland

plateaux. English mission-
aries were already stationed in the country so early as 1822 ; and although they
were massacred they were followed by other preachers of the gospel, who founded
more permanent stations in Swaziland.

(Mn 1.0

Fathoms.

Depths.

100 to 250

Fathoms.

250 Fathoms
and upwards.

SWAZILAND. 195

The Amaawazi people, who are estimated at about sixty thousand souls, take
their name from a local chief, who acquired the political ascendency in the year
1843. They had previously been known as the Ba-Eapuza people, from another
chief renowned for his warlike exploits at an earlier period. The distinguishing
mark of all the Swazi tribes is an incision in the cartilage of the ear. Their late
ruler, Kii^ Bunn, had acquired much wealth from the royalties levied on the
numerous gold mines in his territory. In 1898 he was deposed by the Boers, and
succeeded by a " queen," who, however, was little more than a pensioner of the
Transvaal Government, which, by the Convention of December, 1894, with England,
had acquired the protectorate of Swaziland.

The administration was carried on by a Commissioner, a Judge, and other
oflScials till 1901 appointed by the Transvaal, and since then by the British authori-
ties, the natives retaining the right to govern themselves by their own laws, so
far as is consistent with civilised usages.

The natural centre of the country is the district about the confluence of the two
Um-Volosi rivers. Here was formerly situated Unodwcngo, the royal kraal, or
capital of the Zulu kingdom. This place was succeeded by Uhindi, a town of over
a thousand huts disposed in the form of a fortified circular enclosure some miles in
circumference, within which the herds were safely penned. Ulundi was destroyed
in its turn, and nothing now marks the site of this historic place except an obscure
hamlet. All the other centres of population in Zululand, as well as in Swaziland,
are also constructed on the model of a large cattle pen.

Although these regions cannot bo said to be yet completely pacified, there can
be no doubt that both Natal and Zululand are henceforth safe from the danger of
any sudden organised rising on the part of the natives. The Zulu military system
founded by Chaka was utterly destroyed by the overthrow and removal of Cety-
wayo from the scene, while the Zulu nation itself was, so to say, resolved into its
original tribal fragments. The chief obstacle to a systematic colonisation of the
country having thus disappeared, one may well feel astonished that, from the immense
stream of British migration, such a small current is annually deflected towards the
still sparsely peopled lands of Austral Africa, which are, nevertheless, spacious and
fertile enough to afford support to many millions of human beings. Doubtless this
phenomenon must to a great extent be attributed to the national instinct of the
emigrants themselves. When they quit their English homes they naturally desire
to settle in another England, resembling their native land as closely as possible in
its language, social usages, and ethnical if not political cohesion. Hence the
preference they show for the United States, Australia, New Zealand over Austral
Africa, where they would be thrown into contact with Dutch Boers, Hottentots,
Kafirs, black and yellow peoples of every race. Although jjolitical rulers of the
land, they feel dissatisfied at forming such a small minority of the entire
population.

CHAPTER VI.

TUE LATE BOER STATES AND PORTUGUESE POSSESSIONS SOUTH OF THE
LIMPOPO : ORANGE RIVER ^VND TRANSVAAL COLONIES, DELAGOA BAi'.

I. — The Orange Free State, now Orange River Colony,

F the two Boer States suppressed in 1900, tliat which took its name
from the Orange River was the smaller in extent and population.
It was conterminous along two-thirds of its frontier on British
territory, being bounded on the west by Griqualand "West, on the
south by Cape Colony proper, and on the east by Basutoland and
Natal. The northern boundary line was traced by the River Vaal, which separated
it from the sister repubKc of Transvaal. Before the discovery of tho Diamond
Fields the large oval-shaped enclave assigned to the Orange Free State was clearly
defined on all sides by natural frontiers, the lofty Drakenbcrg range separating
it from Natal between the sources of the Vaal and Caledon ; the course of the
latter stream, with some offshoots from the main range, form the limits towards
Basutoland ; the southern boundary follows the meandering course of the Orange,
while that of the Vaal was chosen to indicate the north-west and west frontiers.
But the peninsular space comprised between these two rivers above tho confluence
had in 1871 been detached from the Free State, and, with its diamantiferous
deposits, annexed to Cape Colony.

Viewed as a whole this region presents the aspect of a somewhat uniform
grassy plateau at a mean altitude of from 4,300 to 4,600 feet above the sea, with a
slight incline from north-east to south-west, and presenting little arable or fertile
land, except in the eastern parts near the foot of the hills. The area is estimated
at over 48,000 square miles, or somewhat less than that of England. But the
country is very thinly peopled, having a joint European and native population of
not more than two hundred and seven thousand, mostly distributed in email village
groups or isolated farmsteads (last census, 1890).

The beginning of the Dutch occupation dates onlj' from the year 1837, when
the fii'st trekkers, leaving Cape Colony with their families, herds, and effects,
crossed the Orange River, and ventured to seek new homes among the nomad
populations of the unknown region stretching northwards to the Vaal. Tho
convoy of pioneers was followed by others, until a new State was gradually con-

THE OEANGE ElVER COLONY. 197

stituted between the two rivers. But the fugitives from British jurisdiction were
still followed by the English authorities, and in 1848 the British sovereignty was
officially proclaimed in the country lying north of the Orange. The Boers resisted,
and, as in Xatal, had at first the advantage of their assailants. But being
incapable of prolonging the struggle with the English forces and their Griqua
allies, thej were compelled either to submit or seek fresh settlements elsewhere.
, Some, refusing to accept the British supremacy with the condition of abolishing
slavery and treating the natives as freemen, continued the exodus in the direction
of the north, crossed the Yaal, and founded the new republic of Transvaal.
Others remained in the country, where they became the dominant white element.

But by extending their authority over this new colonial doniain, the English
at the same time accepted the imfortunate inheritance of the wars that had already
broken out with the Basutos and other natives. The consequence was a heavy
and increasing annual charge on the Imperial Government, which caused dissatis-
faction at home and a strong feeling of opposition to the policy of annexation.
Thus it happened that the supreme power offered to restore their political
autonomy to the Dutch Boers north of the Orange, on the simple condition of a
formal promise not to reintroduce slavery. The Boers gladly accepted this condi-
tion, and in 18-54 the Orange Free State was reconstituted. Since that time the
country has prospered to a remarkable degree, the population alone having
increased fivefold during the last thirty years.

The Boers of the Orange RmiR Colony.

The Boers, who enjoyed political dominion in the Free State till 1900, are the
descendants of zealous Calvinists, and most of them still profess the religion of
their fathers. But othei; Christian denominations, such as the Anglican, Weslcyan,
and Koman Catholic, are all represented, chiefly by the British settlers in the
country, and a few native converts. Possessing for two centuries no book except
the Bible, the South African Dutch communities, Afrikanders as they call them-
selves, arc fond of comparing their lot with that of the " chosen people." Going
forth, like the Jews, in search of a "promised land," they never for a moment
doubted that the native populations were specially created for their benefit. They
looked on them as mere " Canaanites, Amorites, and Jebusites," doomed before-
hand to slavery or death. "With the exception of the single Ba-Eolong tribe,
which, through their hatred of the Basutos, had become the allies of the Dutch,
all the Bantu and Hottentot tribes dwelling within the territory of the republic
have been either broken up or expelled by these South African " Puritans."
They turned the land into a solitude, breaking all political organisation of the
natives, destroying all ties of a common national feeling, and tolerating them only
in the capacity of " apprentices," another name for slaves. Doubtless the blacks
are at present even more numerous than the whites within the limits of the Colony,
but they are for the most part Kafirs, Bechuanas, Hottentots, St. Helena half-
castes, and other recent immigrants, badly paid and badly treated. They are for-

198 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

bidden by lnw cither to vote, to bear arms, or to acquire the ownership of a square
yard of land ; nor will custom even allow them to dwell in the vicinity of the
whites.

Accustomed if not always to till the land, at least to superintend field opera-
tions, the Boers — that is, " peasants " — as a rule fully justify this designation by
their solid, square-set figures and heavy, awkward gait. They lack neither
strength nor courage, but can make no claim to physical beauty tr grace. They
display no sense of taste or elegance in their dress or their household surroundings.
On the other hand, they are richly endowed with the solid qualities of most
rural populations — thrift, method, and perseverance, besides a vigorous vitality,
shown in their large families and the great excess of births over deaths. Hence
their numerical preponderance over the other whites would appear to be secured
for some time to come, at least unless the equilibrium of the population be com-
pletely changed by unforeseen events. But if the English are still in a great
minority, they are none the less the representatives of a decidedly superior culture,
and their speech already rivals the Dutch language as the current medium of
intorcourse, and still more of general instruction. Most of the teachers being
English or Scotch, their language naturally prevails in the schoolroom. It is also
acquiring the supremacy in all the towns, where the immigrants — traders and
mechanics — come chiefly from Port Elizabeth and other parts of the British
colonics. Thus the transition from the rude Dutch dialect to the world-Avide
English tongue is being slowly but surely effected through the thousand subtle
changes daily taking place in the very heart of the social system.

The wealth of the Orange River Colony is derived mainly from its pastures, the
extent of land under tillage being estimated at little more than 250,000 acres.
The whole territory is parcelled out in great domains, treated chiefly as grazing-
grounds, and at present supporting as many as seven million sheep. Over nine-
tenths of the wool exported by the English dealers through Durban comes from
the Colony, where stock-breeders have also turned their attention to ostrich-
farming. Agriculture, also, has acquired a real importance in recent times,
especially in the eastern districts watered by the ramifying streams of the Caledon
and its numerous afiluents. In the central and western parts, where water is
scarce, the landowners arc at great pains to capture and husband it in every pos-
sible way. Not a drop is wasted, and the farmsteads dotted over the monotonous
sheepwalks are now usually encircled by a rich zone of pleasant gardens and
orchards, interspersed with clumps of trees.

At the time when the diamond fever was attracting thousands of fortune-hunters
to the arid plains of Griqualand "West, the supplies of provisions were drawn
chiefly from the agricultural districts of the Orange Free State and Basutoland.
The Colony itself possesses some diamantiferous clays, which, like those of
Kimberley, are found in pits or crator-likc formations, apparently of igneous
origin. All these industrial resources have been considerably developed since the
country has been brought within the network of the South African railway
systems. The junction has already been effected between the munerous lines in

THE OEANGE EIVEE COLONY. I99

Cape Colony and those that have been opened in Transvaal and the upland valleys
of Natal as well as in Bechuanaland and Rhodesia. The line constructed by the
Cape Government connects the Orange River at Ifarval's Point with Bloemfontein,
and this place with the Transvaal at Yiljoen's Drift on the Yaal River. In 1898
the State took over all the local lines, which in 1899 had a total length of 366
mUes willi a capital charge of £2,500,000.

Topography of the Orakge River Colomt.

The only town worthy of the name in the Orange River Colony is the capital,
Bloemfontein, which is situated in the middle of a treeless plain at an altitude of
4,500 feet above sea-level. It stands nearly midway between Kimberley and the
Basuto frontier, on a mostly waterless stream, whose valley inclines to the Modder
and Yaal. From a little eminence on the east side, which was formerly fortified,
Bloemfontein presents a pleasant prospect, with its regular streets lined by black
and white houses. Near the European quarter are grouped the humble dwellings
of Wray-Hook, a suburban village, where all the natives are bound to pass the
night. Bloemfontein, seat of a high school and centre of the political and
commercial life of the colony, presents other advantages to strangers. It is an
extremely healthy place, highly recommended by South African physicians as a
sanatorium, especially to consumptive patients. Many invalids from the Cape,
and even from Europe, form a part of the population, which iu 1901 numbered
over 6,000. Bloemfontein was occupied by the British forces, under Lord Roberts,
on March 15, 1900.

East of Bloemfontein lies the Ba-Rolong district, till recently an independent
little native State, forming an enclave in the Orange Colony, just as the latter
is itself completely encircled by the other South African States. About fifteen
thousand of the Ba-R ulong nation dwelt peacefully in this little territory, over six
thousand being grouped within the enclosures of the capital, Tliaba iW/K, so called
from the hiU whose crest and slopes it covered. But in 188-4 a decree of the
Bloemfontein Yolksraad (Assembly) put an end to the autonomy of the petty Ba-
Rolong Republic. Since then hundreds of the natives, indignant at the breach
of faith committed by the Boers, have quitted their homes and sought refuges
amongst their eastern neighbours and former enemies, the peoj)le of Basutoland.
Before this event Thaba Nshu was the largest centre of population in all the non-
British lands comprised between the Yaal and the Orange.

The provincial chief towns in the colony, although for the most part little
more than rural villages, possess some importance as market-places, well stocked
with provisions of all kinds to supply the needs of the flourishing farmsteads round
about. Ladijbrand, lying to the north-east of Thaba Nshu, has the distinction of
being the central point of the most fertile province in the countr}-, a province
violently wrested from the Basutos. Smithjield, on the Lower Caledon, and Rottxcille,
near the Orange, almost opposite the British town of Aliwal North, are also busy
agricultural centres. Bellmlic, founded b\- the French missionaries, close to the
Orange and Caledon confluence, has become one of the chief stations on the route

200 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

between Capo Colony and the Free State, thanks to the bridge that has been
constructed on the main stream at this point. P/ii/ippolis is another convenient
station for travellers proceeding northwards by the Port Elizabeth railwaj', which
crosses the river a few miles to the south-east. FauresmUh, lying due norlli of
Philippolis, in the middle of an unproductive plain, derives some importance from
the diamond mines, which at Jagerxfontein already produce an annual f, yield of
about £50,000. At Jagersfontein was found the largest African diamond, a stone ,
weighing, uncut, no less than 500 carats, but of very imperfect character. The
colony also possesses some carboniferous deposits, which occur chiefly in the
western district of Kroonstad.

In the northern part of the territory the largest centre of population is Ilarri-
sm'itJi, situated on one of the hoadstrcams of the Vaal, near the Yan-llcencu Pass,
which leads over the Drakenberg down to the colony of Natal. Ilarrisuiith thus
constitutes the natural eastern gate of the Orange River Colonj', which is con-
nected with the Natal railway system by a branch running from Ladj'smith to its
present terminus at Ilarrismith. On the long route leading thence to IJlocmfon-
tein the principal station is Winburg {Wijnburg), which lies in the most hilly part
of the whole territory.

Administration. — Revenue.

The Orange Free State was governed by a single Chamber, the Volksraad, or
"National Assembly," composed of sixty members, that is, one for each ^^ro-
vincial capital and one for each rural district {Veld-kornetij, or " field-cornetcy ").
It was elected for four years, but every two years one-half of the members vacated
their scats and fresh elections took place. During the session they received remu-
neration for their services at the rate of £2 per day. They chose their own
President, while the President of the republic was elected by universal suffrage for
five years. The executive was vested in the President, assisted by an executive
council of five members, that is, the Government Secretary, the Landrost (Governor)
of the capital, and three unofficial members appointed by the Volksraad, one every
year, for three years. The electorate consisted of all whites born within the limits
of the State, or who had resided five years, and had a yearly income of at least
£200, or possessed property of the value of £300. Burghers (citizens) eighteen
years old might vote for the veld-korncts (district judges), but not for the members
of the Volksraad or for the President of the republic before they had com-
pleted their twenty-first year. A Landrost (governor or magistrate) appointed
to each of the districts of the republic by the President, but requiring the confir-
mation of the Volksraad, took cognisance of minor offences. Crimes of a graver
character were remitted to a higher tribunal of three judges, who held assizes in
various districts of the State.

There was no standing arm)' beyond a small artillery corps stationed at the
capital, but all able-bodied whites were bound to serve when called upon. In 1898 .
the burghers liable to service (18 to GO years) numbered over 17,000.

The chief sources of revenue were the poll-tax, the tax on property transfers,

TRANSVAAL. 201

quit-rents, stamps, and trade licences, which generally sufficed to cover the expen-
diture. There were no customs dues, and those levied on imports at the seaports of
Cape Colony were not refunded to the consignees of the Free State. A large portion
of the revenue is applied ta public instruction, and State aid is also granted to the
Calvinist Church. In 1899 the public debt stood at £40,000. The Constitution,
dating fxiom 18;j4, was revised in 1898, when the treaty of ofifensive and defensive
» alliance concluded with the Transvaal in 1896 was ratified by the Volksraad. This
alliance brought about the ruin of the Free State, which, by taking sides with
the Transvaal in tho war of 1899-1901, forfeited its independence, and was
declared British territory, under the title of the Orange Eiver Colony, on May
28th, 1900.

II. — South African Republic, now Transvaal Colony.

This State was officially designated the South African Republic, presumably in
anticipation of a future confederation of the other republican states in the southern
part of the continent. In superficial extent it is considerably more than twice
the size of tbe Orange River Colony but having been colonised at a later period it
possessed till quite recently a far smaller number of white settlers. The disparltj',
however, very soon disappeared after immigrants had began to flock in crowds
to the old and newly discovered gold-fields Thanks also to the admirable climate
of the plateau and to the fecundity of the women, the white population, formerly
almost lost amid the surrounding aborigines, already constitutes a respectable
minority. According to the highest estimates not more than ten thousand Boers
crossed the Orange at the time of the great exodus ; yet their descendants in the
two colonies already far exceed a hundred thousand souls, notwithstanding the
heavy losses caused hy the protracted wars with the natives and English. As
regards the number of the natives, no accurate statements had been made before
1896, when they were returned by a very incomplete census at 622,000, and the
whites at 245,000. But according to the " State Almanack " for 1898, the whites
numbered in that year over 345,000, and tho natives nearly 750,000, giving, with
some 5,000 Asiatics (Malays, Chinese, and Indian Coolies), a total of about 1,100,000,
in a superficial area of nearly 120,000 square miles. Of the whites, about 50,000
were Boers, the rest Uit/anders (" Outlanders "), mainly British, or of English
speech.

Boundaries and Natural Divisions.

Along more than half of its periphery the Transvaal Colony enjoys the
advantage of natural geographical frontiers. Towards the south she is separated
from the Orange River Colony by an affluent of the Vaal, and then by this river
itself. On the north-west and north the boundary line follows the course of the
Limpopo, separating it from Southern Rhodesia ; lastly, a part of the eastern fron-
tier is clearly marked by the Lobombo range, the seaward slope of which belongs
to the Portuguese, while the boxmdary towards the colony of Natal is traced by the

202 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

upper course of the Buffalo River. But in the sections of the periphery not
dcfliietl by rivers or mountains, the territory of the late republic was considerably
enlarged at the expense of the conterminous regions. Between Natal and the
Portuguese territory i„ now encroaches on some of the valleys inhabited by the
Zulus and Swazis, while similar encroachments have been made in Bcchuanaland
on the west side. In 1870 a British arbitrator had traced west of the Idakwasi
Hills in the Potchefstroom district, a limit beyond which the Bo6rs were not to
tiespass. But they paid little heed to this injunction, and during the temporary
annexation of the republic in 1877, the English neglected to restore to the natives
the very district which they had themselves forbidden the Boers to occupy. Since
then further encroachments have taken place, and in virtue of a conveution with
Great Britain, executed in 1884, the territory of the South African Republic was
extended westward to the margin of the great commercial highway which con-
nects the lower Vaal with the Zainboso through Bechuanulaiul aud Rhodesia.
Except at one point traders and travellers may follow this route without touching
the Transvaal frontier.

Transvaal is usually divided into three more or less distinct physical regions,
which are determined mainly by the elevation of the laud, taken in conucction with
the corresponding natural and economic conditions. These divisions are (1) the
Hooge Veld, or upland region, which comprises all the southern tlistricts drained by
the Vaal River, together with the Drakenberg highlands, as far north as the Lipa-
lule, or Olifant River. The Hooge Veld stands at an altitude ranging from 4,000
to 7,000 feet, and has a total superficial area of about 40,000 square miles. It
includes most of the richest mineral districts, and enjoys a healthy climate,
absolutely free from malaria, and well suited to the European constitution. (2)
The Banketi Veld, or terrace lands, embracing the relatively low-lying eastern zone
between the Drakenberg and Ijubombo ranges. This divish)n, which includes the
whole of Swaziland and the upper Slaputa A''allcy, falls in many ])laccs to a level
of 2,000 feet above the sea, and covers a space of from 15,000 to 20,000 square
miles. (3) The Busch Veld, or bush country, that is the inner plateaux, ranging in
height from 3,000 to 4,000 feet, and comprising an area of some 60,000 square
miles. JIuch of this division is strictly steppe laud, and may be described as on
the whole far more suited for grazing than for tillage.

HisTonic Retuospect.

The foundations of this territory were laid under great difficulties. In
1837, when the first trekkers crossed the Vaal and settled in the part of the terri-
tory where now stands the town of Potchefstroom, they came into collision with
the terrible chief of tlie Matebeles, one of the most formidable Zulu warriors, who
were at that time " eating up " the peoples of Austral Africa. Most of the Hutch
pioneers were exterminated, but the survivors succeeded in holding their ground
and eventually driving the fierce Matebele warriors northwards beyond the Lim-
popo. Their numbers were increased by fresh yearly arrivals from the south.

TEANSVAAL.

203

and thus was gradually constituted a little commonwealtli of wandering adven-
turers, dwelling in tents or in frail huts of foliage, and like the Bedouins at the
other end of the continent, following their herds arms in hand.

In 1848, after the battle of Boomplaats, which for a time extinguished the
political independence of the Orange Free State, numerous fugitives from that
region s'ought refuge with their kinsmen beyond the Vaal. Then in reply to the
English, who 'had set a price of £2,000 on the head of the leader, Pretorius, that
sturdy Boer was elected president of the new republic. Four years later, in 1852,

Fig. 69. — Teeks op the Boees.
S-alcl : SI.OI 1.010.

. COO JlUee.

the independence of the Transvaal was recognised by the British Government
itself.

But the everlasting wars between the Dutch and the natives still continued,
and were at times accompanied by atrocious massacres and wholesale extermination.
Every advance made by the white intruders towards the north was marked by a
trail of blood. Thus the dominant British power never lacked pretexts, and occa-
sionally urgent reasons of state policy and humanity, to intervene and arbitrate
between the hostile parties. After the discovery of the goldfields in the eastern
districts of the republic, followed by a large immigration of British subjects, other
interests were created. Hence interference became imperative when the victorious
tribes in the north-east (hrcatcnod to overrun the whole country, exhausted by a
series of reverses in the field, and already on the verge of national bankruptcy.

204 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

Accordingly a British Commissioner, attended lij^ a handful of armed men, mado
his appearance in 1877 at Pretoria, capital of the state, and issued a proclamation
suppressing the republic, and formally annexing Transvaal to the colonial posses-
sions of Groat Britain. To such a desperate condition had the Boers been
reduced at this critical juncture, that no opposition was offered to this summary
proceeding, wh'ch was in fact approved of not onlj' by the Engli.ih reside/\ts, but
even by many of the Dutch republicans themselves. At this time \t seemed the
onlv moans of saving the country from total ruin, although when the danger of a
native rising was over protests began to be uttered against the foreign domination.
The discontent continued to increase, and came to a head when some inju-
dicious measures were taken by the administrator tending to make English the
official language in the courts and schools. . A deputation was sent to London with
instructions to demand the maintenance of the local usages, administrative auto-
nomy, the right of continuing the official use of the Dutch language, and some other
provisions which seemed scarcely compatible with the established order. Anyhow,
the deputation was coldly received, and the whole ]5oor nation felt aggrieved and
insulted at the supercilious conduct of the British authorities. They began to
prepare to assort their rights by force of arms, probably not with much hope of
success against the inexhaustible resources of Great Britain, but in the expecta-
tion that the struggle might at least secure for them the respect and consideration
of the conquerors. But to the surprise of everybody, and even of themselves, they
triumphed over the British troops in three .successive slight encounters, in the last
of which, at Majuba HiU, they certainly showed themselves worthy descendants
of the brave trekkors who had faced so many dangers and fought against such
overwhelming odds in their endeavours to secure political freedom in their new
homes beyond the Yaal. The war now threatened to assume formidable propor-
tions, and possibly to change the whole of South Africa into a battlefield, when
the Governor of Capo Colony ivccivcd from the Gladstonian Ministry a memorable
despatch, such as has seldom been recorded in the annals of international strife,
to the effect that the Boers had been wronged, and that peace was to be concluded
without further bloodshed. Despite the superiority of their forces, which were
preparing to crush all resistance, the English generals were fain to withdraw
without being afforded an opportunity of removing the sting of defeat, and the
Transvaal Bepublic resumed its political autonomy under the suzerainty of England,
a British Resident being appointed at Pretoria with the functions of a Consul-
General (Convention of March 21, 1881).

But J. S. Paul Kruger, having been elected President in 1883, induced the
Imperial Government to modify this agreement by the Convention of February
27, 1884, which recognised the " South African Republic," replaced the British
Resident by a British Agent, without, however, revoking the British suzeraintj',
Although not again specially referred to in the Convention, this suzerainty was
implied by Article IV., which definitely placed the Transvaal in the position of a
subordinate state ; and bj' Article XIV., which gave right of entry and domicile,
and freedom from exceptional taxation, to " all persons, other than natives, con-

TEANSVAAL. 205

forming themselves to the laws of the South African Republic," thus determining
the limits within which the Boer Government could legislate with regard to the
Outlanders, and could form treaties with other Powers. But, in any case, the prin-
ciple of the suzerainty could not be revoked, because, as long as England is the
Paramount Power in South Africa, she can never surrender the right and duty of
requir'nig the Transvaal to be governed with a view to the common safety and
general inter,ests of all the other European communities in that region. In fact,
the Convention of 1884, like all others preceding and following it, was not a
treaty between two contracting Powers, but was a declaration made by the Queen,
and accepted by certain persons, at that time her subjects, of the conditions under
which they could be permitted to manage their own affairs without interference.

But the internal and external relations of the country soon became profoundly
modified by the discovery of the rich gold-fields, followed by the rapid development
of the mining and associated industries, especially in the Witwatersrand and other
auriferous districts. These hitherto almost uninhabited districts were now occupied
by an enterprising and ever-increasing population of Outlanders, who, while adding
enormously to the wealth of the state, threatened soon to outnumber and absorb
the original Boer element. Hence arose the inevitable friction, which long persisted,
between the ignorant and unprogressive Dutch oligarchy, owners of most of the
land, and the new arrivals — capitalists, speculators, traders, artisans, and others,
mainly British or of English speech — not merely owners but creators of most of
the material wealth of the country. In 1881 the reconstituted Boer Government
was verging on bankruptcy, without credit, commerce, or the means of carrying on
an effective administration. In 1898 the revenue exceeded £4,500,000 ; the total
imports were estimated at nearly £22,000,000 ; the yield of gold actually exceeded
£16,000,000 ; and the state lands, worth scarcely £400,000 in 1884, were valued
at several millions in 1899. But in that year the Outlanders, to whom this
amazing transformation was entirely due, were still without political rights, and
treated as little better than helots by the Transvaal Government, which availed
itself of the very resources created by them to keep them in a state of abject servi-
tude. From the first it had been the supreme aim of President Kruger — returned
to office at every succeeding election — not only to keep the control of affairs
exclusively in the hands of the Boer oligarchy, and make the republic absolutely
independent of Great Britain, but also to place it at the head of the movement
which, in opposition to the policy of federation under the English flag, has aimed
at a united South Africa under Boer supremacy, aided, if necessary, by the interested
intervention of some leading European Power — Germany bj* preference. Hence
the party cry, " Bond or Britain," which was first raised in 1899, when the full
drift of the Kruger policy at last became patent to the world. But the main object
of that policy — the transfer of the pararaountcy of South Africa from England to
the Afrikander Bond, imder the hegemony of the Transvaal — was already well
known to those far-seeing South African statesmen who had British interests at
heart, and who had already, in 1885, taken a first step to thwart the machinations
of the Kruger faction by extending British rule from the Cape to the Zambese.

206 SOUTn AND EAST AFRICA.

It does not appear that the Afrikander Bond wu8, as a body, implicated in these
treasonable plottings, and angry protests against German or other foreign inter-
ference in South African affairs, as well as against the flagrant corruption, venality,
and intolerable oppression of the Kruger administration, had been raised by several
prominent Boer politicians in the Cape, the Free State, and Transvaal itself.
Thus Mr. Cloete, a member of the Free State Volksraad, declared, in 1896, that,
"as long as the present regime existed in the Transvaal there could be no lasting
peace in South Africa. So long as the Netherlands Railway Company, which
clings like an incubus to the state, was not cxpro2)riated — so long as the Lippert
dj-namite concession, which cost the mining industrj^ immense sums annually, was
not annulled — so long as the franchise law was not thoroughly liberalised, peace
would be in peril ; and while internal unrest existed he could not do otherwise
than look to the future with anxiety. The Transvaal was a volcano, which may
at any time suffer terribler eruption."

Such an eruption was, in fact, only averted by the merest chance in 1895-6,
when occurred the so-called " Jameson Raid," by which a general conflagration
was almost kindled in South Africa, and hostilities precipitated between England
and Germany. Apparently in response to an appeal for aid from the oppressed
Outlanders of Johannesburg, but under circumstances not yet fully elucidated, Dr.
L. S. Jameson, Administrator of Rhodesia, crossed the frontier, on December 29,
1895, at the head of a small armed force, which, while riding hard for Johannes-
burg, was intercepted and c;iptured by the Boers at Krugersdorp, within a few
miles of that city, on January 2, 1896. Next day came the Emperor Willium's
historical telegram, congratulating Mr. Kruger on his defeat of the raiders, but so
worded as to imply the active intervention of Germany if needed. Thereupon
certain steps were taken by England, which proclaimed her determination to resist
any foreign interference, and uphold against all comers her supremacy in South
Africa. Meantime, the wrongs of the Outlanders remained unredressed ; the
1884 Convention, guaranteeing them equal rights, was flagrantly violated; they
were denied the inalienable privileges of British freemen ; by the unfair incidence
of taxation, made to bear far more than their due share of the public burdens ;
refused naturalisation and the franchise except under impossible or aggravating
conditions ; deprived of the right of public meeting and of a free press ; and com-
pelled to use a rude Dutch dialect in all legal matters, while all state aid, mainly
their own contributions, was withdrawn from their schools unless the same jargon
was substituted for English, as the medium of instruction. After the summary
dismissal (1898) of Chief Justice Kotze, the situation became .so strained that, to
prevent another " raid," perhaps of a more serious character, the Paramount
Power wae again induced to intervene. Although no immediate results followed
from a conference held at Bloemfontein by the High Commissioner, Sir Alfred
Milner, and President Kruger, in June, 1899, hopes were still entertained that the
Boer Government would ere long see the necessity of emancipating the larger, and
by far the wealthier, more intelligent and enterprising section of the white popula-
tion in Transvaal. They were given plainly to understand that the Imperial

K
P4

z
o

TEANSVAAL. 207

authorities had, in the language of Lord Salisbury, "put their hand to the plough,
and would not draw back until the grievances of the Oatlanders were fully-
redressed, that is, until equal rights are enjoyed by all white men dwelling south
of the Zambese."

But despite this warning, President Kruger, influenced, as would seem, by
the advice of his European Agent, Dr. Leyds, suddenly broke off the still-pending
negotiatio\is, and on October 19th sent an Ultimatum to the High Commissioner.
* To the general surprise and to the disappointment of his best friends, the docu-
ment was couched in such peremptory, and even insolent, terms, that the only
possible reply was, that it could not even be discussed by the Imperial Govern-
ment. The explanation of this rash step was, that the Transvaal Boers, having
secured the active co-operation of the Orange Free State, as well as the tacit con-
nivance of a considerable section of the Afrikander Bond, and trusting also in
the eventual support of one or more of the European Powers, and of the Liberal
Party in England, felt confident of a successful issue in a struggle almost
admittedly aiming at the substitution of Dutch for British supremacy from the
Cape to the Zambesi.

Meantime, the period of 48 hours allowed by the Ultimatum having expired,
hostilities broke out at various points, the chief centres of operations being at
first the northern parts of Natal and Cape Colony, where the Boers gained several
unexpected successes in November and December, 1899, and in January, 1900.
But on the arrival of reinforcements, both from Great and Greater Britain, the tide
of victory was turned ; the invaders were everywhere driven back ; and Lord
Roberts, who had the command, with Lord Kitchener as his chief of the staff,
raj^idly advanced through both Boer States, occupying their capitals, Bloemfontein
on March 15th and Pretoria on June 5th, 1900. The hostilities now assumed the
character of a guerilla warfare, President Kruger fled to Europe, and the South
African Republic was bj- Royal Proclamation annexed, on October 25th of the
same year, as the Transvaal Colony.

Natural Resources of Transv.\al.

Of all South African lands the Transvaal Colony appears to be the most
abundantly supplied with all kinds of natural wealth, and it cannot fail sooner or
later to become a highly productive region. The fertile soil is suitable for the
cultivation of cereals wherever the plough can drive a furrow, and the crops are
always of excellent quality. But in 1899 not more than 50,000 acres were under
tillage, so that the supply falls far short of the local demand. The tobacco grown
here is of superior qualitj'', and is highly esteemed throughout South Africa. All
the European cultivated plants thrive well beyond tlie Vaal, and although the
semi-tropical climate is more suitable for oranges and lemons than for the northern
fruits, yet the apples and pears of the Pretoria district have a very fine flavour.

But as a grazing country Transvaal is less favourably situated than the neigh-
bouring Orange River Colony ; in the northern parts of the territory there are even
many tracts where the farmers are unable to raise any live-stock, for this region is

208

SOUTU AND EAST AFRICA.

largely infested by the tsetse fly, whose bite is fatal, especially to such domestic
animals as the horse and ox. The Limpopo Valley throughout the whole of its
lower and middle course, as far as the district to the north-west of Pretoria,
roughly indicates the range of this terrible .scourge. On the south side of the
river the infested zone varies in width from six to about eighty miles, and on
entering this fatal region travellers arc obliged to outspan their teams of oxen and
dismount from their horses and send all these animals back to the pFatcau. In
the districts adjacent to this zone elephants are perfectly aware that in order to

Fig. 60.— Rasqe of the Tsetse Flt.

Scale I : 14,000,000.

Fnsb of Greenwich

R,iDBC of the Tset« Fly.
^^.—^.^— 300 MUcg.

escape pursuit by mounted hunters they have only to place themselves under the
protection of the tsetse fly. Hence they often take refuge in the riverain tracts
along the course of the Limpopo, where the sportsman can follow them only on
foot, or else mounted on horses with a shaggy coat thick enough to prevent the
sting from penetrating to the hide. It is commonly supposed that the pestiferous
insect will disappear from the country together with the large game, especially
the buffalo and certain species of antelopes, with which it is always found associated.
Travellers mention certain districts from which the formidable tsetse has already

TEANSVAAIi. 209

been driven, and the belief seems justified that this winged pest retreats with the
advance of the plough. Hence it is probable that the increase of population and
the development of agriculture wiU one day enable civilised man to introduce his
domestic animals into the Limpopo valley. But on the eastern slopes the
permanent difference of climate between the valleys drauiing to the Indian Ocean
and the elevated Transvaal plateau is so great that horses and horned cattle cannot
be transported without great danger from one region to the other. This circum-
stance accounts for the large sums forwarders of convoys are always ready to give
for " salted " animals, that is, those that have become accustomed to both climates.
Pleuro-pneumonia, which is unfortunately very prevalent throughout the inland
plateaux, is treated by the process of inoculation and amputation of the tail.

Another terrible but, fortunately, intermittent plague, are the all-devouring
locusts by which the Bosch-veld, or central tableland, is more especially infested.
The traveller Mohr gives a graphic account of the arrival of a swarm of these
winged insects, which on one occasion he witnessed when camping on the banks of
the Vaal. They appeared like dense volumes of yellowish smoke, rolling up from
the south-western horizon, and began to alight, first a few at a time, then by
dozens, and presently by countless thousands. They came on in such vast clouds
that the heavens were darkened, and the mid-day sun seemed muddy and beamless,
as at sunset. No perceptible impression was made on this great surging sea of
insect life by the flocks of locust-eaters which assailed it on all sides. It continued
to flood all the land, changing the waters of the Vaal to a dirty yellowish grey
colour. Nothing can check their onward march ; when their path is intercepted
by a stream they rush headlong in, gradually choking its bed with their bodies,
and thus forming a dry bridge for the myriads pressing on from behind. "WTiere-
ever they alight the country is speedily converted to an absolute desert, every
green thing disappearing as by enchantment. But oh the other hand the locusts
are greedily devoured by domestic animals, such as horses, cattle, sheep, and goats,
as well as by elephants and other large graminivorous wild beasts. The natives
also regard them as a great delicacy, collecting them in large heaps and eating
them di-ied and roasted.

MiNER.iL "Wealth.

As a mining region the Transvaal Colony is even more highly favoured than
as an agricultural country. Doubtless the rich diamond fields discovered in the
adjacent lands on its northern frontier appear to be continued into the Transvaal
territory only in the form of sporadic deposits without economic value. But on
the other Land coal and other minerals occur in great abundance. The coal mines
already opened in the northern part of Natal extend far into the Transvaal, where
the farmers now make extensive use of this fuel, which burns with a clear flame,
leaving little or no ash. In various parts of the country iron, cobalt, copper, and
argentiferous lead mines are already being worked. But far more widely diffused
is the auriferous white quartz, which yields a large percentage of gold. In 1867
the geologist Mauch discovered the precious metal on the banks of the Tati, a river

AFRICA IV. P

210

SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

which flows through the Makalaka territory to the north of Transvaal, and which
through the Shasha reaQhes the Limpopo ahove its great bend towards the south-
east. Four years afterwards Button reported the existence of another auriferous
district within the limits of the colony itself, near Eersteling, among the
Devonian hills of Makapana, situated about 120 miles to the north-cast of
Pretoria. In 1873 further discoveries were made in the Lydenburg uplands,
which form the northern termination of the Drakenbcrg border range. Again in
1885 rich deposits were brought to light in the eastern terraces intersected by the
affluents of the Manissa, and within the Swazi territory. Lastly, these discoveries

Fig. 61.— The Teansvaal Gold Vields dj 1890.
Sale 1 : 7,000,000.

JOnANNESBURQ

Eastof Grepiwich

•^~--

iK^a

Limits of the
Tsetse l''ly.

Auriferons
DepotdU.

were soon followed by other even more extensive finds in the Johannesburg district,
on the Witwaters-rand uplands between Pretoria and Potchefstroom. The mines
at present most actively worked are situated in this district and about Barberton,
north of Swaziland, where the De Kaap deposits have already attracted a large
mining population.

It has now been placed beyond all doubt that gold exists in enormous
quantities in the whole of this region, where fresh fields are being almost daily
opened up, not only in the Transvaal, but also throughout most of Southern
Rhodesia. At a meeting of the Society of Arts in March, 1888, Mr. W. II.
Penning read a paper on " The South African Goldflelds," in which he stated

TEAKSVAAL. 211

that it might now be safely concluded that the whole of the Transvaal was
gold-bearing except the "High Yeldt" in the centre, although it was by no
means improbable that even this district might j'et prove rich in the precious
metal, which in Africa often occurred in unexpected places and under entirely
novel conditions. This experienced geologist is of opinion that here the gold
actually h'ps in beds, a feature of immense importance to South Africa, and indeed
to the whole world. He is satisfied that deposits hitherto regarded as mere
" country rock," and localities believed to be barren, would, on the contrary, prove
to be highly auriferous.

But there appears to be no doubt that the richest deposits are those most
recently discovered, that is, those in the east known as the De Kaap mines, from the
neighbouring mountain and river, and those Ijing farther west in the Witwaters-
rand HiUs. The whites alone are privileged to acquire possession of the mines,
from which the natives are rigorously excluded except in the capacity of day-
labourers. By a measure passed in June, 1885, they cannot even receive payment
in gold imder the penalt_y of the lash and imprisonment. Even the Indians and
Chinese are admitted to the fields only on pajdng a heavy residence tax of £2-5.
In the De Kaap mines the rocky formation consists mainly of slaty schists, sand-
stones, and conglomerates, with granites, quartz, and eruptive rocks cropping out
here and there. Those of Witwatersrand, or simply the Rand, occur in a sort of
conglomerate locally known by the name of nugaf, and the reefs, or auriferous
veins, are everywhere disposed in the direction from east to west. Auriferous or
nugget-bearing sands are rare, hence the metal has to be extracted from its bed by
powerful rock-crushing machinery. The consequence is that in the Transvaal
independent private miners are not numerous. The operations have necessarily
to be carried on in a large way by speculating companies commanding sufScient
capital, whose headquarters are in Natal, Pretoria, Kimberley, and London.

Round about the works populous towns rapidly spring up ; new centres of
Exiropean culture are established in the midst of the African world ; a stimulus is
given to the industries, although one of the most flourishing is unfortunately the
distillation of alcoholic drinks. The most productive mines enjoy a great economic
advantage from their position on, or not far from, the direct route connecting
Potchefstroom and the capital of the colony with Delagoa Bay. The railways,
which were absolutely indispensable to the rapid commercial development of the
Transvaal, have now all been completed, and Johannesburg, the greatest centre of
gold-mining industry in the whole world, is the converging point of as many as
five difi'erent lines, all opened before 1896, and with a total length of 2,150 miles.
Three of these, 1,790 miles long, belong mostly to Cape Colony, and afford direct
communication, partly through the Orange River Colony, and partly through
Rhodesia and Bechuanaland, with the southern seaports. The fourth, 304 miles
long, belongs to the Natal system, terminating at Durban; while the fifth, of
great political, as well as commercial, importance, gives access to Delagoa Bay,
the eastern section, of about sixty miles, running through Portuguese territory,
and for the present held by the Portuguese Government. The western section of

212 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

this line, -342 miles long, between Pretoria and the Portuguese frontier at Komuti
Poort, with branches to the Cape and Natal systems, forms the Netherlands Rail-
way Company's system, which, before the war, was worked on behalf of the pro-
moters and of the Boer Government in direct opposition to the interests of the
Outlanders. The same remark applies to a sixth line, the Northern Railway, which
runs from Komati Poort to the auriferous Leydsdorp district, and from which
some of the concessionaires benefited to the extent of £50,000, and even £100,000.

TOPOGUAPIIY OF THE TuANSVAAL.

The southern strip of territory skirting the frontier of the Orange River Colony
still lies within the Vaal basin. The little town of Standerfoti, near the coal
mines about the sources of the river, and Heidelberg, situated more to the west at
the foot of Jeannette Peak (6,300 feet), both lie in the highland district where
the orange will not bloom, as in most other parts of the Transvaal, where a sub-
tropical climate prevails. Potchefdroom, some 90 miles still farther west, on the
Mooi, or " Fair River," a small affluent of the Vaal, already enjoys a much warmer
temperature, although still standing at an elevation of 4,300 feet. In the
surrounding district maize and tobacco thrive well. Potchcfstroom, which during
the early period was the capital of the Transvaal, and which continued to be the
most populous town in the republic long after the scat of government was
removed to Pretoria, is a very agreeable place of residence. The streets are lined
with weeping willows, said to have been originally introduced from St. Helena,
and all the surrounding gardens are enclosed by quickset hedges where blooms
the rose. Owing to the profusion of blooming plants, most of the Transvaal towns
present a charming aspect during the flowering season. The Mooi River, which
springs from a cavernous limestone rock, disappears at several points along its
course, again emerging in the recesses of underground grottoes, one of which, tlie
Wonder-fontein, recalls the marvellous spectacle presented by the analogous
formations in Camiola.

The present capital of the colony, named Pretoria in honour of its President,
Pretorius, lies at an elevation of 4,500 feet, on a gently sloping plain, everywhere
encircled by hills except towards the north, where the Magalies, or "Black
Rhinoceros Range," is pierced by a gorge giving egress to one of the headstreams
of the Limpopo. The Apies, as this headstream is called, collects in a single
channel several rivulets which, after traversing the town, serve to irrigate the
neighbouring gardens. Originally laid out on an ambitious scale, with boulevards
and streets crossing each other at right angles, Pretoria long remained in a state
of transition between town and country, presenting somewhat the aspect of a
large garden relieved here and there with a few groups of low buildings. But
since it has become a place of resort for the miners proceeding to the northern
gold fields it has put on the appearance of a busy mart. Houses are already
crowded together in the central quarter, and large numbers are attracted to the
markets, while the sedentary population exceeded ten thousand in 1899. A few
patches of the primeval forest still survive on the surrounding slopes, and at one

TEANSVAAL.

213

spot is shown the " "Wonder-boom," with its enormous wide-spreading branches.
After the Jameson Raid several forts were built on the surrounding heights, giving
Pretoria the aspect from a distance of a formidable stronghold.

West of the capital, the little town of Rustenhurg, and that of Zeerunt, in the
province of Marico, the " Garden of the Transvaal," are also situated on upper
affluents ,pf the Limpopo. A similar position is occupied by Nyhtroom, so called
because its Boer founder supposed he had here discovered the sources of the Nile.
The rivulet which joins the Limpopo above the great falls stiU retains the name
of " Nile," which recalls the lofty ambition of the Boer roortrchkers, or pioneers,
who in their crass ignorance fancied themselves on the high road to the Promised
Land. Between this river and the Olifant lies the mining town of Ersteling

Fig. 62.— Peetoma bepoee 1895.
Scale 1 : 1,240,000.

{Eersteling), near which are extensive gold reefs and the famous Ijzerberg, or
" Iron Mountain." Then follow Marabastad and Pietershurg, both now connected
by rail with Pretoria. Beyond the ruined station of Zoidpanshcrg, founded in
the year 1834 near some productive salt-pans, there are no inhabitants of European
origin except the missionaries and a few traders.

The district where the river penetrates into the region infested by the tsetse
fly is scarcely even explored. Here the only human habitations are a few native
camping- grounds occurring at long intervals on the routes crossing the stream.
The Limpopo flows through almost unknown solitudes throughout the whole
section of its course which forms the northern frontier of the colony, and which
sweeps round to the east of the border range. The white population does not
descend from the elevated plateaux, which are here carved into elongated promon-

214 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

tones by the streams flowing to the lower Limpopo. The European settlers are
here concentrated mainly about the towns oi Middvlhurg, Lydeiibttry, and Leydsdorp,
in the upper basin of the Olifant, which joins the Limpopo 120 miles above its
mouth, and in the upland valleys of the Manissa (Nkotami) and its affluents. Here
are situated nearly all the recently founded mining towns of South-East Transvaal,
such as Barberton and Eureka, centres of the De Kanp goldfields as Jo/iaiDjcsbiirg is
of those in the "Witwatersrand district. Barberton, which is named from Mr.
Graham Barber, discoverer of a rich goldfield in the vicinity, has a fluctuating
population of Outlandcrs, estimated in 1899 at about 10,000. It is now connected,
by a branch running through Eureka, with the Pretoria-Dclagoa Railway,
But its fame as a mining centre has been completely eclipsed by Johannesburg,
which, though dating only from 1885-6, and figuring on no map earlier than 1887,
was by far the largest place in Africa, south of the equator, in 1899, when its
population, mainly Outlanders of British stock and English speech, was estimated
at nearly 120,000 before the exodus caused by the war scare in that year. Uerc,
also, the Boer Government had erected a strong fort ; not, however, for defensive
purposes, but in order to overawe the inhabitants, and prevent any sudden rising,
such as seemed imminent about the time of the Jameson Raid. This great min-
ing city, which for some years has yielded about a fourth of the gold output of the
world (Witwatersrand return for 1898, £16,040,000), lies about sixty miles south-
west of Pretoria, at the head of a small affluent of the Klip, tributary of the Vaal.
A little further west is the hamlet of Kfugcmlorp, where Dr. Jameson's force was
defeated by the Boers on January 2, 1896.

South of the auriferous region the escarpment of the elevated plateau com-
prises the territory of New Scotland, which appears to abound in carboniferous
deposits. Here is situated Lake Chrissie, an extensive sheet of water which is
now aU that remains of the vast inland sea which formerly flooded a large part of
the plateau. The coal-fields arc continued southwards across the provinces of
Wakkerstroom and Utrecht till they merge in the rich coal mines now being
worked in the Newcastle district of North Natal. East of the plateau the enclave
in Zululand, lying near the waterparting and traversed by the Black and White
Umvolosi rivers, was occupied in 1885 by some six hundred or seven hundred
Boer settlers grouped chiefly in and about the little town of Vrijheid ("Freedom"),
on a small afliuent of the White Umvolosi.

Administration of the Transvaal.
The Constitution of the late South African Republic was based on the "Thirty-
three Articles" of May 23, 1849, and the Gromlwet (Fundamental Law) of
February 13, 1858, but has undergone frequent modifications. As amended in
January, 1897, it provided for a legislative Assembly ( Volksraad) of two Chambers,
each of twenty-seven members, chosen by the electoral districts, those only being
eligible who were thirty years of age, possessed fixed property, professed the Protes-
tant religion, and had never been convicted of a criminal offence. The first Chamber
was elected from and by the first-class burghers, the second from and by the first

TEANSVAAL. 215

and second class burghers conjointly, each for four years. But all measures passed
by the second Chamber became law only when accepted by the first, so that the
legislative functions were practically restricted to the first-class burghers, who con-
trolled the whole administration. They comprised all whites resident in the republic
before May 29, 1876, or who had served in the War of Independence (1881), the
MalabocV (1894), the Swaziland Expedition (1894), the Jameson Raid (1895-6),
all tribal wars, and the sons of such persons from the age of sixteen. The Transvaal
legislators were thus essentially a fighting body, whose qualifications were largely
determined by their prowess in the field. Second-class burghers comprised the
naturalised aliens, and their children from the age of sixteen, naturalisation being
obtainable after two years' residence, and registration on the books of the field-
cornet (District Magistrate), and payment of £2. Naturalised citizens might, by
special resolution of the first Chamber, become first-class burghers, but only twelve
years after naturalisation. On the other hand, sons of aliens, even born in the
state, were destitute of political rights, though by registration at the age of sixteen,
might at eighteen become naturalised burghers, and by special resolution of the first
Chamber, first-class bm-ghcrs ten years after they were eligible for the second
Chamber or when forty years old. The executive was entrusted to a President,
who held office for five years, and, like the Commandant-General, was elected by
the first-class burghers only, while in the election of the District-Commandants
and Field-cornets the second-class burghers had also a voice. The President was
assisted by a Council of six members, two non-ofiicial and four official (State
Secretary, Commandant-General, Superintendent of Natives, and the Minute-keeper),
all six being appointed by the first Chamber except the Commandant-General.
This official, who stood at the head of military affairs, had always commanded
great influence in the Councils of the nation, which, although there was no standing
army beyond a force of about 400 horse-artillery, was really organised on a permanent
military footing. Not only were all able-bodied citizens liable to be called out in
case of war, but they were also expected to be fully equipped and ready for such a
contingency at a few hours' notice. In 1899, the " Commandeering," as the
summons to arms was called, was expected to bring into the field a serviceable body
of about 28,000 well-armed citizens. There was also eight or ten special volunteer
corps, numbering about 2,000 men, subsidised by the state. But the general
training was defective, and the reputation of the Boers as sharpshooters, earned in
recent wars and acquired in the hunting field, seems scarcely deserved, since the
disappearance of large game has caused the practice to fall into abeyance.

Thanks to the prodigious development of the mining industries, the finances
and commercial relations of the republic had in recent j^ears rivalled and even
surpassed those of many states eight or ten times more populous than the Trans-
vaal. The total amount of gold recovered between 1884 and 1889 was valued at
£64,500,000, while the revenue, which before the development of the goldficlds
averaged little over £100,000, rose to £1,256,000 in 1892,and £4,480,000 in 1897.
The chief sources of this revenue were : Import duties, £1,276,000 ; Netherlands
Railway, £737,000 ; prospecting licences, £427,000 ; explosives (dynamite used in

210 SOUin AMD EAST AFEICA.

mining operations and heavily taxed), £300,000 ; stamps, £258,000 ; posts and
telegraphs. £210,000. In the same year, 1897, the expenditure exceeded
£4,394,000, as much as £1,000,000 being for public works ; £997,000 for civil
service ; £390,000 war department, and £140,000 education. The whole of the
last-mentioned item, drawn from the profits of the mines, went to the support of
some 450 schools, which were attended by 11,550 pupils, and in which i^Btruction
was imparted exclusively in Dutch. None of the numerous private schools main-
tained by the English creators of the wealth of the country in Johannesburg,
Pretoria, Barberton, or other places, received any aid from the Government.

In the absence of official returns, the adherents of the United Dutch Reformed
Church, which was the state religion, were approximately estimated in 1898 at over
30,000. In the same year, other Dutch Protestant congregations probably exceeded
33,000 ; Anglicans, Wesleyans, and other English and American Protestants, over
150,000 ; Roman Catholics, 5,000 ; Jews, 10,000.

Despite the disturbed political relations, and the imminence of war with
England in 1899, the trade of the country has steadily advanced from j'ear to
year ever since the opening of the first gold mines in 1884. The imports liable to
duty rose from £0,440,000 in 1894 to £13,563,000 in 1897, in which year the
total imports were estimated at no less than £21,515,000, the heaviest items being
machinery (nearly £2,000,000), clothing (£1,254,000), and railway material
(£870,000). Of all the imports, over £17,000,000 were British, £2,747,000 United
States, and £1,054,000 German. In 1899 the total mileage of the railways completed
within the Transvaal frontier was 774 ; in progress 270 ; and projected 252.

For the administrative divisions see Appendix.

III. — Delagoa Bay.

This inlet on the south-cast coast of the continent takes its name from its
lagoon-like appearance. The form of the coast-line and the depth of this land-
locked basin give it quite an exceptional value. Hence the English colonists, as
heirs of the old Dutch navigators who effected a landing here in the year 1720
and as representatives of Captain Owen, who acqxiircd a strip of territory on the
coast in 1825, did not fail to claim possession of the bay, which must have secured
for them the unchallenged political and commercial supremacy over the inland
States. The priority of possession, however, was contested by Portugal, and in
1875 was decided against England by Marshal MacMahon, President of the French
Republic, to whom the question had been referred. Delagoa Bay was consequently
restored to the Portuguese. But not being yet provided with docks, piers, or other
shipping conveniences, and with a railway completed to Pretoria only so recently
as the year 1895, with a thinly peopled, unhealthy, and uncultivated territory, this
port has, so to say, nothing at present to depend upon except the prospects of its
future prosperity. In fact, the whole district of which it is the capital, from the
Maputa to the Limpopo, is an unreclaimed region largely covered with primeval
forests, savannahs, and marshy tracts. It has a total area of about 20,000 square
miles, with an estimated population of ninety thousand, or five to the square mile.

DELAGOA BAY.

217

LouRENro JIarques.

The town of Louren(}o Marques, founded in 1867 on the site of a village that
bore the same name and which had been seized by the Va-Twa Zulus in 1823, is
so designated in memory of the navigator who established the first Tortuguese
factory on the shores of Delagoa Bay, in the year 1544. But these waters had
already been explored by Pedro Quaresma, who made no attempt to secure a
footing in the district. The low houses of the present town, built of stone and
disposed along the streets running at right angles to each other, present a pleasant

Fig. 63. — LoEEN^o Mabqttes.
Scale 1 : 26,000.

. ■ •'f&-i<' ■■ ■
'■S-^'^1^^ ■<■■■■

5l°5i 50-

5?'J2 50- Eastnf GreenA'cti

Bands exposed at
low water.

Ofo32
Feet.

Depths.

32 to 80
Feet

-^ 1,100 Yards.

80 Feet and
upwards.

seaward prospect, although standing at a low level and surrounded by sluggish
waters which formerly served the purpose of moats against the attacks of natives.
This position of Lourenco Marques in the midst of low-lying alluvial lands,
renders it insalubrious during the hot season ; and it is now proposed to carry out
a system of drainage and extensive plantations of the eucalyptus, in order to dry
up the swamps, which at first may have seemed to constitute an advantage for
the rising settlement. But in any case there are some more elevated lands in the
vicinity, and a comparatively healthy upper town, inhabited chiefly by the mer-

218

SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

chants, is gradually rising above the lower quarters devoted to the shipping
interests.

The Zulus of the Lourcnco Marques district are described by Mrs. Pringlo,
who visited the place in 1880, as an exceptionally fine-looking race of quite
gigantic stature. "Many of the women are over six feet high, and have such
beautifully developed figures, that they would form perfect studies for i^ sculptor.
Nearly all the hoeing and most of the manual labour is done byothem. As this
must be very hard work, sooner or later it must kill any who arc not naturally
strong, whereas those who can stand it have all their muscles fully expanded by
constant action. Not two of the men or women we met were dressed alike. Some
had their hair most elaborately frizzled, and all Icinds of feathers stuck into it.
Instead of a loin-cloth, they wore wild beasts' skins tied round their waists, with a
row of tails dangling from them. Others again had their hair drawn out in fine

Fig. 6-1. — The Lottbenqo MAsaiTES-PEETOKiA Railway.

.Scale I : 5.000,000.

.Ea=I. o^brren/.l-h

Alternative Routes.

120 Milea.

strings and plastered with red mud, so that in the distance it looked like a head-
dress of red coral." *

This traveller speaks in depressing terms of the extremely unhealthy climate
of Lourcn(;o Marques, described as a perfect hotbed of fever, and so deadly that
even horses cannot live there. A station of the Eastern Telegraph Company has
been established at Lourenco Marques. But one after another the unfortunate
officials in charge of it sooner or later fall victims to the climate. " Now they are
trying the experiment of sleeping on board a vessel anchored in the harbour, until
they can build a station up on the hill."t

Lourenco Marques does not lie on the shore of Delagoa Bay, but occupies the
northern bank of an estuary which is developed on the north-west side of this exten-
sive sheet of smooth water. Three rivers have their mouths in this common
estuary, which is nevertheless stUl inaccessible to vessels of the largest size. The
mean depth is not more than 16 or 18 feet, rising to 24 or 25 during the spring
tides. But for average shipping the harbour leaves nothing to be desired, pre-
senting from east to west an uninterrupted stretch of about 8 miles of good anchor-

• Towards tlic Mountains of the Moon, p. To.
t lb. p. 77.

DELAGOA BAY. 219

age. The neighbouring bay is capacious enough for hundreds of the very largest
■vessels, which may here ride at anchor with perfect safety in depths ranging from
40 to 120 feet. The entrance, some 12 miles wide and over 50 feet deep, is large
enough to give access to a whole fleet. The railway has its terminus to the south
of the town, on the very beach, which is soon to be protected by a sea-wall lined
with landing-stages. The line runs from this point mainly in a north-westerly
direction to the, Manissa, crossing this river at the spot where it escapes through a
rocky gorge from the Lobombo Hills, the most advanced border range of the
plateau and western limit of the Portuguese territory.

In 1887 the railway had already reached the Transvaal frontier at Kumati Poort,
57 miles from the coast and 290 miles from Pretoria. This section, where the line
ascends the escarpment of the plateau by a steep gradient of over an inch in the
yard, was completed by the Netherlands Railway Company in June, 1895. Thus
is now traversed with little danger the low-lying, malarious coast zone, which is
much infested by the deadly tsetse fly. The reclaimed lands on the outskirts of
Louren^o Marques produce the sugar-cane and tropical fruits, and here are also
some coffee plantations. Large numbers of turtles are captured in the neighbour-
ing waters.

Since the opening of the railway to the interior a great stimulus has been given
to the transit trade of Lourenco Marques, although business is much obstructed
by the indolent and even corrupt Portuguese ofiicials. No steps have yet been
taken to supply the much-needed piers and [landing-stages, so that goods have to
be transhipped into lighters and towed alongside the wharves, where they are
" dumped down " anywhere, and often left to take care of themselves for days and
weeks. Nevertheless, the imports rose from less than £100,000 in 1890 to
£784,000 in 1897, while the total transit trade approached £3,000,000 in 1898.
Large quantities of war materials were forwarded to the late Transvaal Government
through this port, which has also acquired great importance as a coaling station
for vessels frequenting the south-western parts of the Indian Ocean. In this
respect its vicinity to the French naval station of Diego Suarez, at the northern
extremity of Madagascar, adds greatly to its value, and was perhaps the chief con-
sideration which weighed with Marshal MacMahon in awarding Delagoa Bay to
Portugal instead of to England in 1875.

The territory stretching south of Delagoa Bay is inhabited by the Amatonga
people, who belong to the same group as those occupying the shores of the St.
Lucia lagoons and backwaters, and who even recognise the same tribal chiefs,
notwithstanding the arbitrary frontiers traced by diplomatists. In this southern
district of Delagoa Ba}' no European settlements have yet been made. Here the
shore, fringed with dunes, is dangerous to shipping, while the mouths both of the
Manissa (NkomatI) and Limpopo are of difiicult access. Nevertheless here reside
a few Banyan dealers, who chiefly import brandies, and whose factories on both
rivers are accessible to light craft. The Limpopo factory is situated at Manjoha,
a kraal standing at the head of the navigation of the river, 80 miles from the
coast. The influence of the tides is felt as far up as this point. In exchange for

220

SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

Bpirits the dealers take chiefly bides, caoutchouc, and beeswax. No establisbment
has been founded by Europeans, either on the river or in the neighbouring
maritime region, and here the only human habitations are a few kraals of the
Magwamba (Malolo) natives scattered here and there amid the forests and on the
open savannahs. The Magwambas, wlio belong to the widespread Aniatonga
(batonga) fumilj', and the communities that have escaped (ho ravages of /he Zulu.s,
give evidence of a relatively high degree of native culture. All these tribes are
greatly addicted to the smoking of hemp.

CHAPTER VII.

PORTUGUESE POSSESSIONS NORTH OF THE LIMPOPO.

InHAMBAXE SOFALA GaZALAND.

HE basins of the coast streams following northward between the
Limpopo and Zambese estuaries are all of comparatively small
extent. Nevertheless that of the Sabi, which is the largest, pene-
trates over 300 miles into the interior of the continent. But
farther inland the whole of the plateau drains either to the Lim-
popo or to the Zambese, whose numerous affluents here intermingle their waters.
The divide between these two great hydrographic systems, and those of the
smaller rivers flowing in independent channels seaward, is partly indicated by an
irregular mountain range forming the escarpment of the plateau. The zone of
coastlands thus roughly limited westwards by the Matebele and Mashona high-
lands may be approximately estimated at about 112,000 square miles. On no very
soKd groimds, most travellers agree in giving a population of about half a million
to this region, which was formerly regarded as constituting the south-eastern
section of the fabulous empire of Monomotapa.

Apart from the Portuguese officials and traders who ■vdsited the inland districts
before the present century, this territory of Gaza, with the surrounding lands, has
been explored and described chiefly by the travellers Mauch, Erskine, Wood,
Kuss, Cardozo, Paiva d'Andrada, d'Almeida, Browne, O'Donnel, and Kerr. But
these daring pioneers have been followed by numerous other visitors, and expedi-
tions organised in the mining towns of the Transvaal are at present traversing
Gazaland and studying its mountains and rivers, in order to discover traces of gold
in its quartzose rocks and allu\'ial deposits, with the view of determining once for
all the value of the Portuguese traditions regarding the mineral treasures of this

Physical Featires.

The mountains which in Natal, Zululand, and the Portuguese enclave of
Delagoa Bay form the escarpment of the plateau west of the coastlands, do not
continue to form north of the Limpopo a regular, well-defined orographic system.
Here the ascent from the seaboard towards the elevated uplands of the interior ia

222 SOUTH AKD EAST AFEICA.

not abruptly interrupted, as it is farther south, by an unbroken rocky barrier.
Tho track lies rather across grassy or wooded districts, which rise cither almost
imperceptibly or with a very gentle slope towards the inland plateaux. Amid
these plains, however, stand out a few isolated eminences or even mountain masses,
such as the lofty hills round which the Sabi describes a great bend to the west and
south, and which the former Kafir rulers of Gazaland hud chosen as the best site
for their royal residence and citadel. ,

Above this group of hills, the Ubiri of recent explorers,* rise three conspicuous
summits, the Ubiri, Sipumgambili, and Silindi peaks, porphyry, trap, and basalt
crags, with an estimated altitude of about 4,000 feet. The running waters, cutting
their beds deep into the living rock, have carved these heights into several distinct
sections, which are in many places of difficult access, owing to their steep slopes
and the tall dense herbage, not easily penetrated by the explorer. Nevertheless
the three highest crests are clothed with forests, where progress can be made with-
out much trouble between the trunks of the trees. According to Erskine, the
upper valleys of the Buzi, which has its source in these highlands, are destined
one day to become a centre of European colonisation and culture. Here the
climate is perfectly salubrious, and here both tho sugar-cane and the coffee shrub
find a congenial soil.

Northwards this mountain group abuts on a red and white sandstone tableland
over 3,000 feet high, connected by a few eminences with the Sita Tonga range, whose
crests rise probably to a height of 5,000 feet. One of these crests, terminating in
a sharp point, has received from the natives the expressive name of Gundi-Inyanga,
that is, " Moon-shaver." West of the Sabi the granite hills, resting on a more
elevated plateau with a mean altitude exceeding 4,000 feet, present a far less
imposing appearance. They are, in fact, for the most part mere undulations of
the groimd with broad intervening depressions, where the waters lodge in shallow
lacustrine or marshy basins. Nevertheless even here the Matoppo ridge presents
granite domes rising to a height of 5,600 feet, while some of the crests are carved
into obelisks and pjTamids of the most eccentric outlines.

Farther on the elevated ridges, whose axis continues the line of waterparting
between the Limpopo and Zambese afiluents, are disposed beyond the sources of
the Sabi in an oblique direction with the coastUno of the Sofala district. In this
rugged region, towards the Ehodesia frontier, the culminating point is the many-
peaked Panga (6,970 feet), while the dome-shaped Mount Do^, formerly supposed
to be the highest summit, scarcely exceeds 6,720 feet. Here lies the Manica dis-
trict, which has long been famous for its gold-fields, and has a mean elevation of
5,000 feet.

East of the Manica uplands the divide between the Zambese and the small
coast streams is nothing more than an open plain interrupted at intervals by
granite domes rising abruptly above the surface. South of this parting line of
the waters the aspect of a frowning citadel is presented by the Gorongo/a group

* Browne and O'Donnol, Scottish Geographical Magazine for November, 1887.

GAZALAND.

223

with its extremely precipitous outer slopes, and culminating in Mount Miranga,
which exceeds 6,650 feet in height. This isolated mass, which, like the Manica
uplands, is of granitic formation, is clothed on its upper parts by magnificent
forests, presenting a pleasant contrast to the surrounding tracts, which are mostly
covered with a stunted growth of brushwood.

, River Systems. — Marine Currents.

The Sabi (Sabia), the largest watercourse in the Gaza country, forms a very
extensive fluvial basin, which stretches from the Matebele highlands north-
Fig. 65. — Chief Routes op Exploeees betwee.v the Luipopo and Zasibese.

Scale 1 : 24,000.000

> v>, h^~"^x.'.y •'^T^fesM./-^, \;.^,^s'-f;| ■••*L-s''f^- " <•" ^

'f'~^% '"RAN5VAAL <^v5

50°

Easbof Greenv«.''fh

. WW Miles.

eastwards to the Manica Mountains. It has its chief source in the Mashona
uplands, at an altitude of over 3,000 feet above sea-level, and flows at first in a
southerly direction. But after escaping from the uplands, while still at a dis-
tance of nearly 200 miles from the ocean, it trends roimd to the cast, and main-
tains this direction for the rest of its course seawards. During the rainy season,
the Sabi expands into a potent stream, rushing between banks from one to two
miles apart, with too swift a current to be stemmed by river craft. But on the
return of the dry season the waters subside rapidly, and then the Sabi flows in a
narrow channel not more than 100 feet broad, and even in the centre of the
stream scarcely anywhere quite 2 feet deep. Nevertheless it develops a consider-
able delta, with a shoreline of at least 60 miles in length, and an area of over 800
square nules intersected by the main branches of the Sabi proper. But this space

224 SOUTH AND EAST APEICA.

might be greatly enlarged were it made to comj)rise the elianncls of the two
neighbouring rivers, the Gorongozi on the north and the Gabulu on the south,
both of which might be regarded as belonging to the same hydrographic system.
During the dry season the main branches arc converted into arms of the sea, the
mangroves everywhere fringing both banks bearing abundant evidence to the
saline properties of the water circulating through the delta.

The Buzi, which reaches the Indian Ocean a little to the north of Sofala, is a
far less copious stream than the Sabi. Nevertheless it has been ascended for over
60 miles from its mouth by craft of light draft. Still farther north flows the
Pungue, or Aruangua, which in its lower reaches is navigable for vessels drawing
6 or 7 feet. But several other watercourses, which are fed by rivulets having
their sources in the uplands, fail to reach the sea, their mouths being everywhere
closed by sandbanks.

The great " Mozambique Current," which flows from the Indian Ocean between
Madagascar and the mainland southwards in the direction of the Antarctic waters,
here impinges on the seaboard at the point where it projects farthest seawards.
This headland, indicated from a distance by a blackish little island, takes the
appropriate Portuguese name of Cabo das Correntes, for the stream, which at this
place skirts the coast, sets steadily towards the south-south-west at a velocity
ranging from 1^ to over 2 miles an hour. But as farther south a counter-current
is developed along the Amatonga coast cast of Dclagoa Bay and the Ht. Lucia
lagoons, in the same way a backwater sets towards the equator north of Cape
Correntes. This is clearly shown by the form of the tongues of sand and adjacent
islets, all of which are here disposed in the direction of the north or north-north-
east— that is, in the opposite direction to the great current flowing farther oil the
land in the Mozambique Channel.

In the shallow waters separating the mainland from its fringe of islands, and
esjaecially near Barazuto, the natives fish for pearl oysters, which they open by
exposing them to the action of heat, thereby injuring and diminishing the market
value of the gems. Polyps are also at work along the Gazaland seaboard, where
at certain points the navigation is endangered by the coral reefs. Here also most
of the islands rest on a foundation of coral banks, although now covered with
dunes, which give them a hilly aspect.

Clim.\te. — Flora. — Fauxa.

The climate of Gazaland varies greatly between the low-lying zone of coast-
lands and the terraces of the interior. The winds, which blow nearly always from
the sea, whether from the north-east, the east, the south-east, or the south, bring
scarcely any moisture to the plains of the coast region. Even the heavy rain-
bearing clouds which sweep inland during the wet season — that is, when the sun
approaches the zenith, from November to March — do not break till they strike
against the heights rising above the tablelands and terraces of the interior. It
seldom rains while the normal south-east current prevails, but when the wind

FLORA OF GAZALAND. 225

veers round to another quarter the conflict of the opposing movements results in
storms and tremendous downpours. On the uplands the changes of temperature
are often very sudden. The heats, especially before the rainy season, are most
oppressive. *A great change sets in with the cold southern breezes, and in the
space of a few hours the glass wiU at times abruptly rise or fall as much as 50°
or even (]Q)° F.

Thanks to Ae copious rainfall, the region of the inland plateaux is very fertile.
Here the forests present a great variety of species, whereas the low-lying plains
offer but a scanty vegetation, far less varied than the animal kingdom. In the
wooded districts of the south the trees, usually of small size and growing far
apart, are all alike, whether living or dead, covered with a grey moss, which gives
them a fantastic appearance. In some of the Gazaland forests, as along the banks
of the middle Zambese, a prevailing species is the mopane, a large odoriferous tree,
which affords travellers very little shade, its leaves being disposed in a vertical
position, like the wings of a butterfly at rest. The coast properly so-called is a
mere strip of arid sands, but farther inland the ground, covered with a reddish
arenaceous soil, is much more productive, yielding abundant crops in the well-
watered bottom lands. But such tracts are rare, and the waters which during the
passing rains lodge in the depressions of the surface, soon evaporate after the
return of fine weather. Throughout nearly the whole extent of the low-lying
plains savannahs everywhere alternate with scrub and thorny plants. In such a
region the inhabitants might be expected to settle chiefly along the courses of the
streams, where they might procure the water indispensable for field operations ; yet
the river banks are mostly deserted, the tribes having early in the 19th century
taken refuge in remote and inaccessible retreats, in order to avoid the too frequent
visits of their fierce Swazi conquerors. Hence, through long experience, the natives
have become extremely skilful in discovering the smallest reservoir where the precious
fluid may ooze out drop by drop. They are acquainted with all the forest plants
whose leaves or berries contain water, and specially value the imbutuja, a caoutchouc
creeper, the fruit of which serves to quench their thirst. As in many other parts
of Africa, such as the Fazogl district of Senaar, in the Nile basin, and on the
Quissama plateau on the west coast, the cavities formed in the trunk of the baobab
are also carefully utilised as cisterns. These cavities are enlarged and deepened
with the axe and fire tmtil the whole stem becomes, as it were, converted into a
sort of aerial well. But the winter rains do not always suffice to replenish it ; the
water also gradually becomes foul, and at last evaporates altogether ; and when
this happens, the inhabitants are fain to quit their forest retreats and remove to
the more open riverain tracts.

Wherever the population is thinly scattered over wide spaces, the fauna, free
from the attacks of its worst enemy, is both numerous and diversified. The
elephant still abounds throughout Gazaland, the hippopotamus and crocodile
swarm in all the streams, large herds of antelopes bound over the plains, while the
uplands are frequented by large numbers of buffaloes. The hyffinas, and especially
the leopards, are much dreaded by the herdsmen. Erskine traversed some

AFRICA lY. q

226 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

districts where the leopards are so daring that the women scarcely venture to
work even in broad daylight in the fields, and the hut« have to be protected by
stout enclosures made of stakes interlaced with trailing plants. On the other hand,
the lion rarely attacks man, and the natives seldom complain of his presence, as
they often come in for the remains of the feast — half a buffalo, an unfinished
antelope, and the like.

In several districts the most noxious animals are various species of termites,
which devour the vegetation, and commit such havoc on the plantations that all
cidtivation has to be abandoned. The domestic animals are iinable to live on the
low-lying plains, either owing to the tsetse fly or 1o some mysterious poison in the
air.* Hence travellers wishing to reach the plateaux of Gazaland with their
horses or cattle, have to approach from the west through the Matabele or Mashona
districts.

Historic Retrospect — Tiie ZiMBABYfe Ruins.

The Sofala seaboard was possibly frequented by the ancient navigators, and
the fleets of the Phoenicians are said to have penetrated southwards as far as these
eastern waters. According to numerous authorities, here was even situated the
far-famed Ophir, whence Solomon brought gold, precious woods, and pearls. But
other Biblical commentators have placed this same Ophir either in India or in the
Eastern Archipelago, while the total absence of any trustworthy geographical
information regarding the true situation of this land of gold gives ample scope for
any hypothesis. But whatever be the correct view, there can be no doubt that
Gazaland had already been visited by civilised strangers long before the arrival of
the Portuguese on the east coast of Africa, for the followers of Vasco de Gama
here found the ruins of buildings far superior in architecture to anything the
present inhabitants are capable of erecting. Hence it is not, perhaps, surprising
that the Lusitanian mariners fancied these edifices must have been the remains of
the stations or factories constructed by the Queen of Saba for storing the gold
intended as a tribute for Solomon.

Since the time of the first Portuguese explorers the memory of these monu-
ments had never been forgotten, although all attempts of numerous travellers to
rediscover them had proved abortive until the year 1871, when the geologist Carl
Mauch at last succeeded in bringing them to light. They consist of the remains
of two fortresses built of granite on two neighbouring hills, situated near a western
afiluent of the Sabi, about 230 miles west of Sofala. From amid the thistles also
rose a tower still some forty feet high, and Mauch supposed that these militarj'
works were intended to guard the gold mines of the surrounding district. The
term Zimbaoe given to them by the Portuguese — that is, the Zimbabye of the
present inhabitants — has the meaning of " royal residence." Since Mauch's time,
the chief remains which are situated in the neighbourhood of the present town of
Victoria, in Southern Rhodesia, have been frequently visited and also fully de-
scribed by the late Theodore Bent. This distinguished archaeologist, who surveyed
• Saint Viucent Erskine, Journal of the Royal Oeographieal Society, 1876.

INHABITANTS OF GAZALAND- 227

the whole ground in 1891 for the purpose of discovering some clue to their
origin, brought to light several objects in clay and stone which seemed to be of
Himyaritic or South Arabian workmanship, and thus lent support to the views of
those observers who are disposed to identify the Manica and Rhodesian goldfields
with the Land of Ophir. The monuments are described as being of an absolutely
unique cljaracter, presenting a combination of strongholds and religious edifices,
such as might have been erected by a highly civilised Semitic people for the double
purpose of worship and of defence against the surrounding aborigines while carrying
on their mining operations in this auriferous region south of the Zambese. Thus,
the outer rampart of the central group of buildings, which has a circuit of nearly
800 feet, and is decorated with many phaUic emblems peculiar to the old Semitic
peoples, belonged evidently to a great phallic temple enclosed within a fortress
with walls in some places from 12 to 16 feet thick, constructed with much skill,
and carried to a great height. Parts of these enclosures are still -'50 feet high,
while some of the neighbouring ruins, built in the same style, and obviously
dating from the same period, comprise numerous strong walls, flights of steps,
arches of primitive type, and walled-up caves, all apparently the work of Sabajn
or Himyaritic Arabs. Amongst the remains is a curious phallic altar, carved all
over with birds and large vases in relief, and encircled with a frieze, on which
is figured a regular hunting scene — two elephants in the background, and in the
middle distance four quaggas, at which a man is hurling a spear while holding a
dog in a leash. Unfortunately, no inscriptions have hitherto been discovered ; but
from the general character of the remains Bent seems justified in attributing them
to the South Arabian Sabaens or Himyarites of pre-Muhammadan times.* Further
support is given to this conclusion by the fact that in the Malagasy language of
Madagascar — an island from remote times visited by the Arabs — the Semitic
elements belong, not to the later Arabic of the Koran, but to the archaic speech
of the South Arabian rock inscriptions.

The Zulus and Aborigines of Gazaland.

Since the middle of the sixteenth century the Portuguese possessed establish-
ments on the coast, which served as revictualling stations for their vessels on the
long route between Lisbon and Goa. On several occasions they made expeditions
to the interior, and especially towards the gold region of Manica ; and various
works connected with mining operations attest their residence in districts far
removed from the seaboard. But it is evident that their enterprising spirit
gradually waned, and till recently the sphere of their influence had been limited
to the neighbourhood of Inhambane, Chiloane, and Sofala. But the nation is
again bestirring itself, and active steps are now being taken to resume the clfective
possession of the domain that has been assigned to Portugal by the common con-
sent of the European Powers. Nor can there be any doubt that these efforts will
be crowned with success, thanks to the indirect support afforded to the Government
by the immigrants, missionaries, traders, and gold-hunters.

* J. T. Bent, The Ruined Cities of UashonaUmd, 1893.
q2

228' SOUTH AND EAST APEICA.

Yet, before the year 1896 the true ruler of the land was still tlio Swazi King of
Gaza, Gungunyana, related to the Zulu chief Munikussu, who escaped in 18^0 with
thirty thousand followers from the oppressive rule of the terrible Chaka, and who,
retreating northwards like the Matabeles, founded a new empire in this region.
The territory whose inhabitants were formerly tributary to the King of Gaza, is
boimded on the south, near Louren9o Marques, by the course of the Nkomati, an
affluent of the Mancissa, often confounded with the main stream. , Northwards it
extends as far as the Zambese, and on the west side is conterminous with Southern
Rhodesia. The political centre of the empire lay within the stronghold of
inaccessible hills where the Buzi takes its source. Originally the kraal where
the king resided was at Chaiiia- Cliama, in the upland valley of the Um-Swelizi or
Upper Buzi, but about the year 1888 the coxirt was transferred to a stronghold in
the hills not far from Delagoa Bay.

The Zulus of Gazaland are usually called Umgoni by the southern populations,
and Landins by the Portuguese. Camping round about the royal residence, they
long retained their military organisation, being marshalled in regular troops,
battalions, and regiments, and officered by induiias or captains, who endeavoured to
keep alive the warlike traditions of their victorious forefathers. The mainte-
nance of this system was the more necessary that the hosts of the ruling nation, being
vastly less numerous than the population of the subject tribes, their political
ascendency could be secured only by terror. The army was so constituted that it could
be moved rapidly now on one point now on another, stamping out all resistance by
wasting the land and carrying off all supplies and live stock. As is ever the case,
this method of government had the inevitable consequence of impoverishing the
land and stifling all germs of civilisation. These Zulu sovereigns had no longer a
hoe as the emblem of authority, like the old Monomotapa emperors, for they ruled
only by the sword. The former sedentary and agricultural tribes had become
hordes of fugitives ever ready at the shortest notice to abandon their villages and
settlements at the approach of the royal army. They were forbidden to work the
mines, lest they might grow rich and dangerous ; they were prevented from hunting
the elephant because that is a noble pursuit, and slaves must not aspire to equality
with their masters.

In recent years the policy of the king was inspired by a feeling of profound
jealousy towards Europeans. Ho allowed them to hunt and trade, but only within
rigorously defined limits ; he assigned them fixed camping grounds, and levied
black-mail on all visitors under the name of "presents." But the Swazi rule
came to a sudden end in January, 1896, when Gungunyana, after his overthrow,
with great slaughter, in November, 189-5, was captured and removed to Lisbon. In
1897, a rising of the Swazis against the hut tax having been repressed, Gazaland
was constituted a military district, while the Manica goldficlds were assigned to
the Mozambique Company, chartered with sovereign rights for fifty years from 1891.

The indigenous populations are commonly known by the collective name of
Tongas, although differing considerably from the Amatongas dwelling to the
soulh of Delogoa Bay. They appear to be for the most part related to the .Basutos,

INHABITANTS OP GAZALAND. 229

wtom they resemble iu physical appearance, usages, and peaceful temperament.
Like them, thoy show a decided preference for agriculture and stock-breeding,
and also speak dialects showing marked affinities to the Sesuto branch of the
Bantu linguistic family.

All these despised Tongas are gifted with a clear intellect and a passion for
learning. Formerly whenever they could escape from the tyranny of the Zulus,
they always resumed the cultivation of the land and their other industrial pursuits.
Being entirely averse from the military spirit, they discuss all affairs of general
interest in common, leaving the administration to a council of elders and petty
chiefs. Their circular huts, formed of stakes connected bj-- creepers, with all
interstices filled in by clay, are generally higher and better constructed than those
of the southern Zulu Kafir peoples.

The Chobi, that is, "Bowmen," occupy the southernmost districts in Gazaland.
Those dwelling in the neighbourhood of the Limpopo along the coast dunes had
all been reduced by the Zulus. But the northern Chobi, called also Mindongs by
the Portuguese, had succeeded in safeguarding their independence, thanks to the
support accorded them by the garrison of the town of Inhambane. These are the
Boa Gente, or " good folks " spoken of by Yasco de Gama. This tribe disfigure
themselves in a way which to Europeans seems absolutely repulsive. They raise
three rows of warty excrescences on the face, one from the top of the forehead to
the tip of the nose, the other two from ear to car, forming two chains, which are
brought round one by the upper lip the other by the chin. They seem better
entitled to- the name of Knob-noses even than their Transvaal neighbours. The
costume of their women is a sort of bark toga.

North-west of the Chobi the plains are occupied by the Ma-Kwakwa people,
whoso territory may be traversed in all directions without obtaining a sight of a
single village, so completely are their settlements concealed in the brushwood.
For a stretch of about sixty miles, Richards came upon nothing but abandoned
kraals. Before the overthrow of Gungunj'ana the Ma-Kwakwas never dared to
cultivate their little garden plots, such was their dread of sudden visits from their
Zulu kinsmen and oppressors. But they carefully tend their wine-yielding palms,
small trees from 5 to 10 feet high, which resemble cabbage stumps in appearance,
but give a large supply of liquor.

The Ma-Gwanzas, who dwell west and north-west of the Ma-Kwakwas, alonar
the banks of the Limpopo and its affluents, were exempt from the visits of the
Zulu soldiery, and are consequently a very numerous people. They own large
well-cultivated gardens, and even herds of cattle in all the districts not infested by
the tsetse fly.

Their northern neighbours, the Ma-Longwas or Ma-Eongwis, dwell in bark
huts of a rudimentary type. The district stretching still farther north iu the
direction of the Sabi delta is held by the Bila-Kulu tribe, while the far more
numerous Hlenga nation occupies at some distance inland from the coast the
region of plains extending towards the interior between the Limpopo and Sabi
valleys. Their country being mainly scrub, the Hlengas might almost be called

230 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

bushmen. Being iinable to till the land for want of water and through fear of
the Zulus, they were formerly obliged to live almost exclusively on the produce of
the chase. They pursue the game by the trail, like hounds, and when they have
wounded an animal they follow it up unflaggingly for days together, sleeping at
night near the drops of blood so as not to lose the track. They study the starry
skies and consult the flight of the vulture in order to take part with it in the
carrion feast. They also show great skill in constructing pitfalls, and despite the
edicts forbidding all the Tongas from hunting the elephant, they contrive to plant
a sharp stake concealed by the foliage across the path of the huge pachyderm.
The wounded animal, overcome by the acute pain, is unable to advance farther and
falls an easy prey to his enemies.

North of the Sabi the Tonga tribes, having been under the direct control of the
Zulus, were formerly reduced to a state of slavery. Such are the Ma-Ndandas
and Ma-Ndowas, who appear to have been at one time a very powerful people,
but during the Swazi rule had to hide in the bush, clothed in long robes made
from the bark of the baobab. Still farther north, and not far from tlic Manica
uplands, dwell the Ki-Tevi (Gwa-Tevi or Aba-Tevi), probably descendants of the
Quiteve people mentioned by the Dominican friar, De Santos, as a large nation
forming the central nucleus of the Monomotapa empire. The traditional ceremo-
nious formalities observed at the court of the Umgoni king appear to have been in
great part inherited from the Quiteve sovereign. Amongst these natives are
scattered some groups of Ba-Lempas, who practise circiuncision, and who are said
by Mauch to resemble the Jews in their features and social customs. Most of them
are distinguished by red eyes and fiery eyebrows, like the Polish Jews. They
dwcU in separate villages, living by usury and a retail barter trade. They also
manufacture the iron wire required for the elaborate headdresses of some of the
surrounding tribes.

The Banyans.

Perhaps the most important section of the population, not only here, but in all
the Portuguese East African possessions, are the Hindu traders collectively known
as Banyans, or Banians, who have almost monopolised the export traffic of this
seaboard for many generations. " Attracted from India more than half a century
before Clive laid the foundations of the Eastern British Empire, by an edict of
the Portuguese Viceroy, Conde de Alvor, which gave to a Banyan Company in
1686 an exclusive monopoly of the trade between Diu and Mozambique, the
Banyans, strengthened afterwards by the Battias and other Hindu sects, gradually
increased in number and in influence, until at this day, despite the loss of all
monopolies, they are in sole possession of the trade of the coast. Others there are,
wholesale European merchants, at the chief centres of trade ; but they alone are
to be found in every accessible port and river of the coast, bartering European
manufactures for native produce, and thus, by searching out new markets and
creating trade, stimulating the industry of the natives.

" Bejoud the trade monopoly, they were formerly granted extensive and pecu-

TOPOGRAPHY OF GAZALAND. 231

liar privileges, amongst which one of the most curious was a right to have all cases
of crime and dispute occurring amongst themselves settled by their own judges, who
generally consisted of padres chosen from the order of the Jesuits. Some say that
from this union of commerce and religion much trouble and disorder sprang ;
others, that the power of the Jesuits and the prosperity of the Banyans alike excited
the envy of the authorities. Both were spoken of in terms of harsh and severe
censure. A drastic measure was therefore taken with their reverences, and in 1759
they were packed off as prisoners to their respective convents in Goa, and the
whole of their property in the colony confiscated to the Crown.

" Soon after the Banyans were ordered to return to Mozambique, ' because of
disorders spread by them on the coast,' and in 1777 their monopoly was withdrawn.
But these restrictions appear to have had little effect, as for nearly a century past
their field of trade has been steadily extending. The feeling of antagonism with
which these traders are regarded arises chiefly from the fact that the profits made
by them are neither invested in, nor serve any useful purpose to, this countr}^
India is the land of their nativity, and out of it the law of their race does not
permit them to permanently settle, or even to carry their women. Residence
abroad is, therefore, to them but a temporary sojourn, and the wealth they gain is
naturally remitted to the only country custom allows them to call their own."*

TOPOGKAPHY.

In the southern part of this region the only town hitherto founded by the
Portuguese bears the Kafir name of Inhambane.f It is situated on the east side of
a large open bay, free from reefs, which somewhat resembles that of Lourenco
Marques, although offering-fewer advantages to shipping. Towards the south the
inlet gradually narrows to a small creek, and here is situated the harbour, accessible
only to vessels drawing 10 or 12 feet of water. The town, which is fairly well
constructed, stands on a long hill or ridge, which is almost entirely surrounded by
water at the flood. It has a motley population of about three thousand blacks
whiteo., and copper- coloured Christians, Mohammedans, Banyans, and Parsees.
Inhambane being a centre of the Moslem propaganda amongst the surroimding
Negro populations, has its mosque as well as its churches. On an island near the
coast, some 60 milee farther north, are seen the ruins of an old Arab settlement.
Slaves and ivory, which were formerly the only exports, have now given place to
beeswax, caoutchouc, gum copal, cocoanuts and groundnuts. In their dealings
with the natives the Inhambane traders use as currency little iron bars. The
neighbouring palm-groves, which cover a space of over a thousand acres, contain
about a himdred and eighty thousand cocoanut-trees. Of late years some sugar-
cane, tea, and cinchona plantations have also been formed in the vicinity of the
town. It is of considerable importance that the whole of this district should be

* Consul H. E. O'NeiU, Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, October, 1882.

t The two syllables inha, forming the initials of so many names of places in the Portuguese East
African possessions simply represent the Spanish ii, transliterated in English by ng. Consequently
Inhambane is to be pronounced Xgambane.

282 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

brought under cultivation and made to yield sufficient produce for tlio local con-
sumption, because the port is encompassed by solitudes, and lies at a far greater
distance than Louren90 Marques from the agricultural and mining regions of the
interior. From these it is separated by the valley of the Limpopo and by
extensive plains rendered almost uninhabitable by the presence of the deadly
tsetse fly. The town itself was captured in 1834 by the Landins (Zulus), and even
eince then has been exposed to frequent attacks. Yet with all these drawbacks
Inhambane continued to thrive until its trade was ruined by the opening of the
Beira railway.

Mrs. Pringle, one of the few English travellers who have in late years visited

Fig. 66. — Manica jutd Goeongoza HianLiSDs.

Scale t : 2,600,000.

^ s*' "^*-, ■•;( Manica*

r-";-^----

»=:\,

} If'

JiL

.ri"'A.

Ea&t F l?rp^nwirh

. 60 MUes.

Inhambane, .speaks of it as quite a charming town. " We thought it quite the
most beautiful place we had yet seen in Africa. As we approached our anchorage
the broad river became blocked with wooded islands. Everywhere we looked there
were forest and low-spreading bu.shcs. The town, nestling under wooded hills, is
situated at the head of a deep bay about fourteen miles from the mouth of the
river. Quite a number of picturesque little huts peeped out from amongst a clump
of cocoanut palms, looking from the steamer very like Swi.ss chalets, only they had
no stones about them, and were thatched with palm-leaves. Several were sur-
rounded by high palisades, Kafir fashion. The contrast between this little bit of
native town and the more solid-looking European houses, situated on a rising knoU,
was very striking. Then the sunset, though short, was exqxiisitc. The whole

TOPOGEAPHY OF GAZALAND. 233

sky was full of fleecy clouds, a mass of red and j'cUow, while the bay looked as
brilliant as a rainbow under the evening sun, which slanted across its waves,
lighting them up with the constantly varying tints of green and gold." *

North of the Inhambane inlet the seaboard is guarded bj' some small Portuguese
posts. One of these stands on the island of Bazaruto, where the neighbouring
pearl and holothuria fisheries are little utilised. Another, on the island of Shiloane,
in the marshy delta of the Sabi, serves as a convict station, which is surrounded
by brackish waters frequented bj' the hippopotamus. Formerly the most frequented
harbour on the Gaza coast lay beyond the fluvial basin on the low beach of an inlet
penetrating far into the interior. Here stands the port of Sofala, at a point which
is unfortunately inaccessible to vessels of heavy draught. When the Portuguese
founded in this place their first settlement between the Limpopo and the Zambese,
they supposed they were restoring Solomon's city of Opfiir, and gave this appella-
tion to the little fort, one of whose towers is still standing. They were also imder
the impression that the river Sabi itself had been so named from the Queen of
Saba. Before the discovery of the far more commodious port of Beira, formed
by the mouth of the Pungue or Aruanga River, Sofala had the advantage of being
the nearest seaport to the JIanica and Mashona gold-fields. The railway running
from Beira to the interior, which was begun in 1891 and completed in 1897 to the
British frontier, a distance of 220 miles from the coast, was opened to Salisbury,
in Rhodesia, in 1899 ; total length 380 miles.

The geologists that have visited the Manica country have hitherto failed to
discover either the auriferous rocks in these granitic uplands or the deposits of
precious stones where the native women find their beautiful pendants and earrings.
The valley of the stream whose sands are washed for gold opens on the southern
side of the mountains. Here the pits, sunk to a depth of 18 or 20 feet in the
alluvial soil, and still perfectly preserved, date from the time of the early Portu-
guese operations, which were themselves preceded by much older works, tradition-
ally attributed to a " white people with long black hair." Near the village oi2Iassi
kesse, which was formerly the capital of the pro-\-ince, are also seen some ruins of
the ancient city, which had already been almost entirely abandoned at the end of
the last century. It was deserted in consequence of the " just reprisals " of the
revolted natives, and subsequently destroyed by the Zulu invaders, who massacred
most of the iahabitants, and forbade the survivors to continue the mining opera-
tions.

The already mentioned Mozambique Company was partly formed for the purpose
of resuming these works and reviving the important " fair at Manica," which was
formerly held at JSIassikcsse. But according to some geologists, the sands of the
Manica valleys are but slightly auriferous, the proportion of the precious metal
apparently not averaging more than half a gramme, or about eight grains, to
thirty-five cubic feet of matter. The future wealth of the country will be derived,
not so much from its mineral resources as from the great fertility of its valleys.

• Op. cit. p. 68.

234 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

In no part of South Africa are the lands hetter watered or more productive, and
in the Manica territory " droughts and scarcity are unknown."

A Negro regulo formerly resided at Mulassa, on the south-west slope of the
Manica hills. As a vassal of the Portuguese Government, he was kept in awe by an
officer with the title of " capitao-mor," whose little garrison was stationed iu the
natural fortress of Massara, a huge bluff with precipitous walls, accessible only by
a giddy zigzag path. On one occasion three thousand Zulus in vain attempted to
storm this rocky citadel, from which large stones were rolled down, crushing great
numbers of the assailants.

The present capital of this extensive district, which bears the alternative names
of Manica and QiUteve {Kiteve), was founded about 1880 in the Serra de Gorongoza,
at the village of Inhangtt, usually called VilUi Gouveia, from the name which the
natives give to the capitao-mor. Formerly the surrounding hills were completely
deserted, but they are now being gradually repeopled, and companies of disciplined
Landins are now enlisted by the Government to protect this new Portuguese
conquest from the attacks of their southern kinsmen.

Since 1891 the whole district from the coast to Rhodesia, including Sofala,
Beira, and Manica, has been administered by the Chartered Mozambique Company.
In this region Beira, seaward terminus of the railway, bears the same relation to
Southern Rhodesia that Louren(;o Marques does to the Transvaal. In 1898, before
the opening of the line to Salisbury, it had already a population of 6,000,
and its imports, chiefly British, exceeded £600,000. Yet this port, which is of
such vital importance to the future of Rhodesia, stands mainly on an unstable
sandbank, liable to be washed away by the waves rolling in from the Indian
Ocean.

CHAPTER VIII.

ZAMBESE AND KU-BANGO BASINS— RHODESIA.

N length, the extent of its basin and volume, the Zambese ranks as
the fourth river in Africa, being surpassed in these respects only
by the Congo, the Nile, and the Niger. But however important it
still is, this great artery appears to have formerly drained even a
far larger area than at present. Several copious streams which at
one time joined it from the west and south-west, have ceased to reach its banks ;
various waterpartings have been upheaved between the central and the secondary
basins, and many of these have become isolated marshy or flooded depressions,
which have no longer any outflow, and whose surplus waters are carried off by
evaporation alone. From the geological standpoint, the unity of the whole basin
still remains evident enough ; but it has ceased to constitute a single hydro-
graphic system. Although they no longer intermingle their currents, the Ku-
Bango and Zambese clearly belong to the same original area of drainage, as had
in fact long been shown by the Portuguese explorations previous to the time of
Livingstone.

General Survey.

But these explorations had been entirely overlooked by most geographers out-
side of Portugal, and for the scientific world Livingstone must be regarded as the
true discover of the Upper Zambese. Numerous travellers have followed in his
footsteps, notably Holub, Thomson, Serpa Pinto, CapeUo and Ivens, Johnston,
Hoste, Croad, Selous, Kerr, Anderson, Gibbons, and others, by whom the whole
region has been traversed in all directions, and its main physical features described
with more or less fulness of detail.

The scientific exploration of these lands, in anticipation of their political
annexation, has been undertaken partly from the direction of the Lower Zambese.
But this river being shallower and narrower than the Congo, and especially more
obstructed by falls and rapids along its middle course, can be utilised only for a
comparatively short distance by travellers seeking to penetrate into the heart of the

236

SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

continent. The extent of navigable waterways presented by its affluents is also
far inferior to that of the Congo, while its basin yields to that of the groat equa-
torial river in natural resources of all kinds. The regions included within the
Zanibese area of drainage enjoy a less copious rainfall, and consequently a less
diversified vegetation, and are also on the whole less densely peopled, although
in certain fertile districts the inhabitants are crowded somewhat closely together.
Taken in their widest sense, the joint basins of the Zambese ind Ku-Bango,
with tho other watercourses belonging geologically to the same area, have a
superficial extent of about 800,000 square miles. But according to the most

Fig. 67. — Zaubbsk Ku-Banqo Basin.
Scolo I : 36,300,000.

20"

task or Greenwich

Zambese
Catchment Lasin.

0 tn 1,000
Fathoms.

]'i itlii.

1,000 to 2.000
Fathoms.

2,000 Fathoms
and upwards.

eOOUiles.

trustworthy estimates the whole population can scarcely exceed four or five
millions, and of this number not more than two thousand are Europeans, including
even the maritime settlement of Quelimane. The long and devastating wars that
have been waged in many districts of this region sufficiently explain the depopu-
lation of these relatively fertile lands, which might easily support two hundred
millions of inhabitants.

The Ku-Bango.

The eastern slope of the continent within the contiguous basins of the
Zambese and Ku-Bango begins at a relatively short distance from the Atlantic
seaboard. Tho farthest headstreams of the Ku-Bango, or Okovango, have their

THE KU-BANGO BASIN. 237

sources within 250 miles of the seaport of Benguella, whereas the distance in a
straight line thence to the shores of the Indian Ocean is no less than 1,500 miles.
The Ku-Bango, rising in the Bihe district, on the southern slope of the mountains
which separate its hasin from that of the Cuanza, flows at first in a southerly-
direction parallel with the Cunene and with the axis of the Angolan coast ranges.
Owing to this circumstance many explorers, and amongst others Ladislas Magyar,
accepted the r^tive reports that the Ku-Bango drained through the Cunene to
the Atlantic Ocean. Not far from its source the river 'flows for some distance in an
underground channel, and then reappears here and there for short intervals, until
it again becomes a surface stream some 6 or 7 miles below the point where it first
plunged into its rocky subterranean bed. Farther on the Ku-Bango winds
through a narrow glen between grassy or forest-clad hills, then trending gradually
round to the south-east receives the contributions of the Ku-Eyo, the Ku-Atir,
and the Lua-Tuta, all flowing in parallel valleys in the direction from north to
south. At the point where it was crossed by Capello and Ivens on July 10th, that
is some six weeks after the dry season had set in, the current had still a width of
130 feet with a mean depth of 10 feet and a velocity of nearly two miles an hour.

What becomes of this considerable volume of water, which is greatly increased
during the rainy season, and lower down more than doubled by the Ku-Ito affluent,
which rises on the transverse continental waterparting south of the Kwango and
Kassai, and has a total length of no less than 480 miles ? The two Portuguese
explorers advance the hypothesis that the united Ku-Bango and Ku-Ito flow
directly eastwards, discharging a considerable portion of their waters through the
Kwa-Ndo or Chobe into the Zambese. Elsewhere they remark that " they appa-
rently go to feed the southern lakes, or, in some imknown way connect themselves
with the Zambese."* This is also the opinion of other travellers, and is confirmed by
the reports of many native tribes. Andrew Anderson, who has crossed the district
in every direction, merely indicates at this point a marshy tract, where, at least
during the rainy season, there is a slow onward movement of the fluvial waters, if
not a current in the strict sense of the term.

But however this be, the almost perfectly level disposition of the plains
traversed by the Ku-Bango, below where it begins to converge towards the Kwa-
Ndo, gives rise to some remarkable hydrographic phenomena in this region of
uncertain drainage. The Cunene itself would even appear occasionally to com-
municate with the Zambese through the waramhas of Lake Etosha, and an intri-
cate system of channels spreading eastwards. Thanks to the temporary inunda-
tions to which the whole region is subject, the hippopotamus has been able
gradually to migrate from lagoon to lagoon as far west as the eastern foot of the
Herero highlands. Several streams descend from these highlands, one of which,
according to Andersson, is perennial, never completely drying up even in the heat
of summer. At the foot of the "VYatorberg, an extensive sandstone plateau which
absorbs much rainwater, springs one of the largest of these streams, although at
first scarcely perceived through the densely matted overhanging foliage.
• From Benguella to the Territory of Yacea, vol. i., p. 93.

238

SOUTH. AND EAST AFRICA.

Some traces still survive of the aBcient inland sea which flooded this region
of the continent between the uplands skirting the Limpopo and the Damara high-
lands, before the waters of this vast basin were drawn off through the gorges of
the Zambose. Over the old lacustrine bed are still scattered numerous flooded
depressions, which become displaced, enlarged, or reduced in size according to the
abundance or scarcity of the rains and the deposit of alluvial matter. The long
presence of water in a vast continental lake is clearly shown, eot only by the
almost perfectly level disposition of the land, but also by the formation of exten-
sive lacustrine deposits. The whole plain is floored, as it were, by a kind of

Pig. 68. — Region op Unceetadt Watebpaetinos.

BeilD t : 6,700.000.

. 120 lllll^.

tufa more or iCss soft according as it is exposed to the air or covered with organic
debris. Wherever the soil is turned up freshwater shells are brought to the sur-
face, analogous to those still found in the Zambese.

The bed of the Ku-Bango, as well as those of the streams flowing from the
Damara uplands, and ramifying over the great plain, are flanked by depressions
where the surplus waters are gathered in temporary lakes during the rainy
season. Moreover, these rivers branch off into distinct channels, the so-called
moloUas of the natives and laagten of the Dutch Boers, which also receive much
of the periodical overflow, but in which the current sets in the opposite direction
and thus rejoins the main stream during the dry season. In this way is produced
a sort of ebb and flow, regularly following the annual alternations of the climate.

; LAKE NOAMI. 239

The Tonke (Tonka, Tauke), which receives the surplus waters of the lower
Ku-Bango, but which is at times completely dry, is everywhere skirted by mo-
loUas, some with the normal others with the reverse current. The bed of the
Tonke, which is here and there obstructed by a few rapids, is generally followed by
the Bushmen in their migrations. After the rains the Tonke usually discharges
into Lake Ngami ; but in 1886 it had shifted its bed and discharged into a vast
morass, whose waters were carried off through various channels eastwards and
south-eastwards to the Chobe and the Zuga. Every successive explorer who pene-
trates into these solitudes describes and figures difEerently the currents of the
lacustrine basins and the network of their influents and effluents.

Lake Ngami.

Lake Ngami, Nagabi, or Naabi, that is " water " in a pre-eminent sense, or
according to Chapman, " Giraffe Lake," is one of those basins with ever-changing
margins, like the Shotts of Algeria and Tunis. No traveller traces its outlines in
the same way. The least shifting shore lies on the south side, where the land is some-
what more elevated. It even develops at some distance from the lake the chain of
the Makkapolo hills, rising 1,200 feet above the level of the lake, which by different
explorers is itself estimated at from 2,600 to nearly 3,000 feet above the sea.
When discovered by Livingstone in 18-19, Ngami appeared to stretch for about 60
miles from east to west, but was much narrower from north to south, the opposite
shores being plainly visible in this direction. The natives calculated the circum-
ference at a three-days' journey, but its circumnavigation would have presented
almost insuperable difficulties, the water being so shallow that in many places the
boatmen are unable to use their oars, and are obliged to propel their light craft
or reed rafts with poles.

The lake acquires its greatest expansion usually between the months of April
and July, when its waters, diluted by its numerous affluents, become sweet and
potable ; but according as they subside they grow continually more saline, at
last even leaving crystalline efflorescences on the surrounding reeds, which in
some places form a green border several miles wide. The basin has been subject
to frequent changes of level, which are evidently due to the difference of baro-
metric pressure on the shallow lagoon waters, combined with the deviations in
the volume of liquid brought down or carried off by the Tonk^ and other tribu-
taries or emissaries. Thus the British West Chartcrland Company's expeditions
of 1896-98, conducted by Colonel Lugard and Br. S. Passarge, found the lake
quite dry ; the water had entirely disappeared, and was replaced by a brown
expanse of reeds, betwe' the roots of which the traveller sinks into the soft,
treacherous soil. "Water could be obtained only by wells about twenty feet deep,
and was often brackish. Br. Passarge, while attributing some influence to the pro-
gressive secular desiccation of South Africa, thinks the sudden drying up of Ngami
has been caused by the blocking of the Tonke affluent by the thousands of reed
rafts on which the Makoba people bring their yearly tribute of corn to Tsao,

240 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

present capital of the domiuaut Ba-Toana. " Even were the channel to be again
opened, the drying process has gone so far, that the Taukhe could hardly suffice
to again fill the lake, whose shores are now abandoned by its inhabitants."*

During the greater part of the year, Lake Ngami when flooded discharged its
overflow through the Zuga emissary, which, after flowing for some distiincc towards
the east, trended to tlie south and again round to the east as far as the extensive
saline tract known as the Makarakara, or Makarikari, that is,« the " Mirage."
This shallow depression is occasionally flooded with a little water, which like
Ngami, is constantly displaced by the prevailing and alternating winds. Between
both basins, for a distance of no less than 240 miles west and cast, Anderson's
measurements coidd detect no dilference of level, a few inches at the most probably
representing the actual incline along this section of the ancient lacustrine depres-
sion. Ilcnce the least obstruction, the slightest change of barometric pressure,
the smallest alternation between atmospheric dryness and moisture, the growth of
a few tufts of reeds, suffice to affect the flow of the waters wandering with imde-
cided course over the plain of the " thousand lakes." The whole region is tra-
versed in every direction by fluvial beds alternately flooded or empty, by meres,
swamps, and salines constantly displaced and restored.

So intricate are the ramifying branches of the laagten, that during the period
of high water the natives venturing in their frail barks on the sluggish streams
often lose their way and spend days in searching for the right channel to cross
the inundated plain. Even the Zuga, the only perennial river in this region of
imperceptible slope, reverses its current, which in April and May sets steadily
from Ngami, but during the two following months flows back to the lake. During
the floods the Mababe branch of the Zuga trends towards the north, and while a
portion of its contents disappears amid the surrounding sands, another portion
reaches the Chobe, which is itself a tributary of the Zambese. Thus the hydro-
graphic systems of the Ku-Bango and Zambese become periodically intermingled,
and the original unity of the whole of this area of drainage is temporarily
re-established.

At this season the almost boundless watery horizon is relieved here and there
by pleasant stretches of woodlands, clumps of graceful palms, or gigantic isolated
baobabs. A few eminences, assuming the aspect of lofty hills, appear as islets
and archipelagos in the midst of the ancient inland sea thus annually revived
during the rainy period. The periphery of this level plain consists to a great
extent of volcanic formations.

The Chobe.

The Chobe or Kwa-ndo (Cuando), whose lower course connects the Ku-Bango
with the Zambese, rises like both of these rivers on the southern slope of the
transverse waterparting, which stretches from the Bihe territory across the
continent in an oblique direction to the region of the great equatorial lakes. The
Chobe trickles as a tiny brook from a swamp which fills a depression confined
between two bills, and according to Serpa Pinto, standing at an elevation of
• Qeographicaljomnal, September, 1890, p. 312

THE CnOBE RH-EE.

241

4,500 feet above sea-]evel. It flows at first towards the south-east, and is soon
swollen by the contributions of innumerable streamlets into the proportions of a
veritable river navigable for the greater part of its course, although obstructed
here and there by forests of tall reeds. In this region its basin is separated by
a scarcely perceptible sill from that of the Zambese properly so called. I^ever-
theless it still maintains its independent course west of this low parting line, flow-
in a southerly direction parallel with the main stream, and at last emerging ou
the great alluvial plain which also receives the discharge of the Ku-Bango. The

Fig. 69. — Kassai. Ki'-Banoo, and Zambese.
Scale 1 : 11,000,000.

k ^ I i,?

•'&

onta

'i.£t:3^ha

91'

Easb oP Greenwich

26°

. ISO Miles.

Ivwa-N"do even occasionally effects a junction with this river during exceptional
floods, and ihcn sweeps round to the cast, here expanding into the serpentine
Lake Chobc, which in many places takes the aspect of a river. When Living-
stone explored it, the current had a mean depth of from 14 to IG feet, but would
neverthel'jss be inaccessible to a steamer of any size owing to its extremely sharp
windings.

The junction of the Chobc with the Zambese is effected through an intricate
labyrinth of little channels and passages, in the midst of which stands an island

AFRICA. IV. ;■

242 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

of volcanic origin. During the floods, which lust from December or January lo
March, all inequalities of the ground disappear beneath the vast and always limpid
sheet of water formed by the junction of the two streams. The animal difl'erence
between the high and low water levels varies from 20 to 24 feet. In recent times
the Chobe has acquired some political importance, as it is through its valley that,
by the Convention of 1891, German youth-West Africa gains access to the
Zambese. ,

The Lira or Upper Zambese.

The little river Liba, which has its source not from that of the great Lu-Lua
tributary of the Kassai, is usually regarded as the true upper course of the Zambese,
although both the Ku-Bango and the Chobc take their rise at a far greater distance
from the Indian Ocean. One of the affluents of the Upper Liba is the Lo-
Tembwa, a stream flowing from Lake Dilolo, which was discovered by Livingstone,
and which presents the rare phenomenon of communicating with two distinct
fluvial systems, those of the Zambese and the Congo. A great number of other
" children," as the natives call the tributaries of the Liba, send their contributions
to the " mother," which soon becomes the Liambai or Zambese, that is, the
" river " in a superlative sense. But the greater part of the rainfall, being precipi-
tated on a too uniformly level surface, is unable to reach the main stream. It
lodges in stagnant pools scattered over the reed-grown plains, which from a dis-
tance resemble a boundless prairie with here and there a few wooded islets rising
above the tall, wa^ong grasses.

Amongst the perennial watercourses of this region, all infested throughout
the year by numerous hij^popotami, the most important is the Lua-Eua, whoso
basin stretches far to the west. Some sixty miles from the point where the Zam-
bese begins to become navigable, the Lua-Ena mingles its blackish waters with
the yellowish current of an affluent which Livingstone regarded as the true main
stream, but which is inferior to it both in the length of its course and in volume.
This is the Kabombo tributary, first explored by Capello and Ivens.

Below the confluence of the two rivers the mainstream is swollen by the waters
of the Lua-Ngo Nbungo, which rises not far from the sources of the Kwa-Ndo,
and traverses the extensive Lobale plains — grassy feus or waterless steppes accord-
ing to the season. Beyond this junction the aspect of the land still remains
unchanged, the united stream flowing directly southwards over a plain standing
at a dead level, where the flood waters expand in vast shallow lagoons during the
rainy season. On the surface are borne along great masses of tangled vegetation
swept down by the current. With the return of dry weather the waters subside,
and this apparentlj' boundless sea assumes the aspect of a regular channel winding
between steep banks of alluvial soil intermingled with sands and many-coloured
clays, where the wasp-eater and kingfisher have their nests.

The river thus flows rapidly but at a uniform speed for a distance of over
180 miles, after which, beyond some wooded islands, it changes the direction of its
course, trending round (o the south-east. Here the stream winds between rocky

TUK \'1CTUEL\. 1\VLLS. 243

cliffs, which gradually converge, soon leaving a space from bank to bank of from
GO to 100 yards. Pent up within this rock}- bed, the current, which during the
rainy season rises from 50 to CO feet above the normal level, rushes along in
furious eddies at a speed which renders all navigation impossible. But above
these rapids, known as the " Gonye Falls," there is a free stretch of over 250 miles
as far as' the neighbourhood of the waterparting towards the Kassai affluents
which is accessible to riverain craft, doubtless one day to be replaced by steam.

Below the Gonye Falls the Zambese is continually interrupted by reefs and
rocky ledges, some of which are disposed athwart the current, foiming connecting
ridges between the cliffs on either bank. Here every rapid, every cataract, pre-
sents a diiferent aspect. One reef crosses from side to side at a perfectly uniform
height, the water gliding over it without a ripple as over an artificial barrier ;
another is pierced with gaps and openings, through which the water pours as
through the gates of a lock. Elsewhere the cmrent is obliquely stemmed by
boulders piled up in disorder, or broken by rocky islets rising amid the seething
whirlpools. In a stretch of about 12 miles Holub reckoned no less than forty-six
cataracts and rapids of all sorts, some of which are extremely dangerous either to
shoot or to turn. It would even be quite impossible to make the attempt but for
the fact that the crocodiles themselves are obliged to avoid the neighbourhood of
the cascades. The boatmen ascending the stream are thus enabled to approach
the reefs, deposit their cargo on some convenient ledge, and haul their boats up to
the smooth stretch above the fall ; then nimbly resuming their seats, they safely
continue the journey up this reach amid these voracious saurians swimming about
in the still, deep waters. The last of the series of cataracts is the Katima Molelo,
above which the Zambese presents an open course free from all obstruction for a
distance of nearly 120 miles, as far as the network of channels ramifying south-
wards in the direction of the Chobe lagoons above the great falls.

The VitTORi.\ Falls.

The Mosi-oa-Tunya, or " Thundering Smoke," * which afforded an escape to
the great inland sea of which Ngami is but a puny remnant, presents an abso-
lutely unique spectacle. Doubtless many other streams pliuige at a single bound
into a deeper abyss, or roll down a mightier liquid volume. But nowhere else is a
great river seen to suddenly disappear in a narrow rocky chasm, whose very bed
is completely veiled by the overhanging vapours, and whence the tumidtuous waters
escape through a fissure which is not even visible except from the vantage-ground
of some dangerous headland. The Zambese seems, as it were, suddenly to vanish
in the very bowels of the earth. Discovered, or at all events rediscovered, in
November, 1855, by Livingstone, and by him named the Victoria Falls, this
stupendous spectacle is thus described by the illustrious traveller : —

" After twenty minutes' sail from Kalai we came in sight, for the first time, of

^" The expression means literally " Sniuke does sound there," answering to Livingstone's free render-
ing, '■ Smoking ealdxon,"

241

SOUrn AND E^iST AFRICA.

the columns of vapour, appropriately called ' smoke,' rising at a distance of
five or six miles, exactly as when large tracts of grass are burned in Africa. Five
columns now arose, and bending in the direction of the wind, they seemed placed
against a low ridge covered with trees ; the tops of the columns, at this distance,
appeared to mingle with the clouds. They were white below, and higher up
became dark, so as to simulate smoke very closely. The whole scene was extremely
beautiful ; the banks and islands dotted over the river are adorned with sylvan

Fig. 70. — VicTOBiA Fails.
Scale 1 : 14,000.

25° 50'

''50' tlQstof Gr^

- JoO Varus.

vegetation of great variety of colour and form. At the period of our visit several
trees were spangled over with blossoms. There, towering over all, stands the
great burly baobab, each of whose enormous arms would form the trunk of a large
tree, beside a group of graceful palms, which, with their feathery-shaped leaves
depicted on the sky, lend their beauty to the scene. The silvery motonono, which
in the tropics is in form like the cedar of Lebanon, stands in pleasing contrast
with the dark colour of the motsouri, whose cypress form is dotted over at present
with its pleasant scarlet fruit. Some trees resemble the great spreading oak,

THE MIDDLE ZAMBESE. 245

others assume the character of our elms and chestnuts ; but no one can imagine
the beauty of the view from anything witnessed in England.

" The falls are bounded on three sides by ridges 300 or 400 feet in height,
which are covered with forest, with the red soil appearing among the trees. When
about half a mile from the falls I left the canoe by which we had come down thus
far, and embarked in a lighter one, with men well acquainted with the rapids, who,
by passing dowh the centre of the stream, in the eddies and still places caused by
the many jutting rocks, brought me to an island situated in the middle of the
river, and on the edge of the lip over which the waters roU. Though we had
reached the island, and were within a few yards of the spot a view from which
would sohe the whole problem, I believe that no one could perceive where the
vast bodv of water went ; it seemed to lose itself in the earth, the opposite lip of
the fissure into which it disappeared being only 80 feet distant. Creeping with
awe to the verge, I peered down into a large rent which had been made from
bank to bank of the broad Zambese, and saw that a stream of 1,000 yards broad
leaped down 100 feet, and then became suddenly compressed into a space of 15
or 20 yards. The entire falls are simply a crack made in a hard basalt rock
from the right to the left bank of the Zambese, and then prolonged from the left
b-ink away through thirty or fortj' miles of hills. In looking into the fissure on
the right side of the island, one sees nothing but a dense white cloud, which at
the time we A-isited the spot had two bright rainbows on it. From this cloud
rushed up a great jet of vapour exactly like steam, and it mounted 200 or 300 feet
high ; there condensing, it changed its hue to that of dark smoke, and came back
in a constant shower which wetted us to the skin."

The narrow gullet through which the whole body of water escapes is only
100 feet broad at the entrance, that is about thirty-six times narrower than the
liver above the falls. Widening at times, and again contracting to the first
dimensions, it winds abruptly through its rocky bed, hemmed in between black
porphyry cliffs, trending first to the west, then to the east, and repeating the same
meanderings before finally emerging from the gorges and gradually expanding
to its normal size. The rocky walls are broken by deep lateral ravines, and
every fissure is clad with a forest vegetation. The higher terraces resemble
hanging gardens, whence the designation of Semiramis Cliff, given by Holub to
the eastern promontory commanding the entrance of the gorge.

At a comparatively recent geological epoch, before the Zambese had opened this
gorge by eating away the barriers damming up the lacustrine waters, it flowed at
a higher level in a lateral valley. This valley is now traversed by the Lekone, a
northern tributary of the main stream, which flows in a contrary direction to the
old current.

The Middle Zambese.

Below the Victoria Falls the Zambese at first continues its easterly course, then
trends to the north-east, and again sweeps round to the east. Even here the
current is still obstructed, rushing at one point over the Kansalo rapids, at another

240

SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

traversing the narrow Hariba gorge. Then it is joined by its great Kafuk';Te
(Kafwe) affluent, which comes directly from the west, and which is reported to bo
interrupted only by a solitary cataract about a day's journey above the confluence.
Btill farther up this river would appear to bo free from all obstructions as far as
the neighbourhood of the walcrparting between the Zambcsc and Congo ba.sins.
The valley of this river has consequently already been indicated as probably offering
the best route to be followed by the future trans-continental railwaj' trom the
Atlantic to the Indian Ocean.

Farther down the copious Loa-Ngwe sends to the Zambese the whole drainage
of the southern slope of the waterparting between Ijakes Nyassa and Tanganyika.
With this contribution the mainstream has acquired nearly the full measure of its

Fig. 71. — The Lvpata Goeqe.
Scale 1 : 120,000.

. 18 Miles.

liquid volume, when it strikes against the roots of the mountain-range running
north and south athwart its seaward course. The Chikarongo Falls, followed by
the Kebrabassa rapids, mark the point where the Zambese is deflected by this
barrier towards the south-east, a direction which, with the exception of a few
short raeanderings, it henceforth pur.sues to the delta. At this point, marking the
commencement of its lower course, its waters begin to lose their limpid clearness,
clouded by the muddy deposits and organic remains here lining its banks. Above
the rapids it preserved a relative transparence even during the season of the
periodical inundations, but it has now become a turbid stream of a browni.sh or
dirtj^ red colour. Along the upper reaches the banks and riverain tracts are
covered with a dense herbage, where the current is filtered by depositing most of
the sedimentary matter held in solution. Here also the banks are consolidated by

LAKE NTASSA. 247

the binding effects of the roots, and thus prevented from falling in and disturbing
the stream, as is the case lower down.

The gorge where the Zambese pierces the transverse range which forms a
northern continuation of the Manica uplands, has become famous in the history of
African geographical research. By tradition it had been transformed to a
tremendous defile, flanked by marble walls of prodigious height, and covered on top
with a snowy piantle. The very name of Lupata, which simply means glen or
gorge, has been interpreted as signifying the Sjiiita Mtindi, or "Backbone of the
World," and the place came accordingly to be regarded as constituting the main
continental axis. Yet the cliffs skirting these narrows are exceeded in height by
many similar formations in European river gorges, not to mention the stupendous
canons of Korth America. The highest cliffs, standing on the west side, rise
vertically to an altitude of over 650 feet, everywhere presenting all kinds of folds
and faults in the strata of its silicious schistose rocks. But the eastern or opposite
side is greatly inclined and completely forest-clad, rising in steps towards the
mountains stretching away to the east.

The Zambese, from 200 to 300 yards broad in the defile, and contracting to
little over 40 yards at the narrowest point, flows everywhere at a depth of 60 or
70 feet, and being entirely free from reefs might easily be ascended by steamers.
The Lupata gorge has a total length of over ten miles, terminating at its issue in
a sort of gateway formed by two cone-shaped porphyry hills. Beyond this point
the river broadens out between its receding banks, leaving ample space for a
chain of alluvial islands in mid-stream. Farther down it branches off into two
arms, one of which, the Ziu-Ziu, on the north side, traverses a low-lying swampy
district to its junction with the Shire from Lake K'yassa. The river craft usually
take this channel, not only when bound for the upper Shire, but also when they
want to reach the lower reaches and the delta. The two branches are separated
by the large triangular island of Inha-Ngoma, which is itself cut up into numerous
secondary islets by passages and backwaters, where boats frequently get lost amid
the reeds. All these intricate streams are known as the Rios de Senna, from the
name of the nearest town, and in this region the river itself usually takes the
designation of Cuama (Kwama).

Lake Ny.\ssa.

While the lakes of the Upper Zambese have ceased to exist, or have been
replaced by swamps and salines, the Shire still receives the overflow of the vast
lacustrine basin of the Kyassa, which belongs to the system of the East African
inland seas. The term Nyassa (Nyanja) simply means " Lake," nor has this great
body of water received any more definite name from the natives, while its European
discoverers or explorers have conferred no special designation on it, as they have
on other equatorial lakes, such as the "Victoria" and the ".zVlbert" Nyanzas.
Formerly, when it was still known only through the reports brought from Africa
by the missionaries and the Portuguese officials, it was commonly known by the

218 SOUTH AND EASr AFEICA.

name of Maravi, like the populations dwelling on its banks. At the same time Ibis
Miiravi, with an alternative Nhanja JIucuro, figured on the maps of Africa under
the most diverse forms and outlines, being in some cases made to occupy nearly
the whole of the unknown regions of the interior. But all these vague guesses
were for ever swept away in the year 1859, when its true formation was first
revealed to the outer world by Livingstone. Since that time it has been /ravorscd
in every direction by explorers, and I'luropean settlements have evdn been founded
on its shores, and steamers launched on its waters.

Nyassa presents a striking resemblance to its Tanganyika neighbour. Both
basins are disposed very much in the same direction, except that the axis of
Nyassa approaches nearer to the line of the meridian : both appear to fill the beds
of cracks in the crust of the earth, produced by the same pressure, but that of
Nyassa stands at a lower altitude on the surface of the continent, being scarcely
five hundred feet above soa-lcvel. It also i^rescnts, like Tanganyika, tlie aspect of
a broad valley, the sinuosities of whose sides mutually correspond, with, however,
some deviations here and there. At its two narrowest parts it is only 14 or 15
miles wide, while in other places it expands to 55 or 60 miles. Excluding the
windings of the shore-lino, it has a total length of over five degrees of latitude, or
about 360 miles, with a superficial area, according to the most recent surveys, of
about 12,000 square miles,* and depths ranging from fifty to four hundred fathoms^
and upwards. Young found ninety fathoms close to the east side, while the
soundings of Mr. J. E. Moore in 1899 revealed an extreme depth of 430 fathoms
in the northern section of the lake.

Towards its north-east extremity Nyassa is dominated by a lofty range, with
steep rocky cliffs sinking sheer down to the water's edge. In some places the
cascades, sparkling on the slopes like silvery streaks, mingle their spray with the
foam of the waves breaking on the rock-bound coast. Shallows are rare, and
excejit at a few points on the west side the explorer may sail for days together
close in shore -without meeting any shelving beach or reed- grown shoals. But
some of the bays and inlets arc studded with islets which are visited bj' the hipjjo-
potamus, swimming over from the adjacent mainland. So pure are the waters of
Nyassa that the sheathing of the vessels launched on its bosom by the English
missionaries remains perfectly clean for years together ; the boilers of the steamers
are also almost entirely free from any trace of sediment.

The fierce gales which sweep over the lake lash its surface waters into
formidable waves, compared by seafarers to the billows of the South Atlantic itself.
Hence, although its shores present numerous creeks and inlets with good anchorage,
especially under the shelter of the islands, the European navigators have often run
imminent peril of foundering. But since the discovery of the easily accessible
estuary of the Rombash River, at its northern extremity, they are able to venture
on its waters with a greater feeling of security. About forty-eight hours now

• Comparative areas of the great African lakes and of the largest lacustrine basins in other eonti-
nenta: Victoria Nyanza, 26,000 square miles; Tanganyika, 15,000; Nyassa, 12,000; Lake Superior
(America), :i:i,O00 ; Baikal (Asia), 11,000; Ladoga (Europe), 7,00'i.

LAKE NYASSA.

249

suffice to traverse the lake from end to end in steamers, whereas the first exiilorcrs
took from ten to fifteen days to make the trip. The natives, who scarcely ever
venture far from the coast, make use of canoes or dug-outs, hollowed chiefly by the
action of fire, with the gunwales curved outwards to the right and left, so as to
strike against the water, and thus secure greater steadiness.

At t'Vnes the whole surface of the lake becomes enveloped in a thin silvery
mist or haze, silrouding all the mountains and veiling the bright solar rays. This
l;i(ngu, as it is called, is entirely due, not to any aqueous or aerial vapours, but to
countless myriads of tiny white-winged gnats, which, when alighting on vessels or
houses, cover the whole surface as with flakes of snow. The natives gather these
midges by the basketful and knead them into cakes.

Lying, like Tanganyika, in a fissure of the ground, Nyassa is almost entirely
encircled by mountains, which are not merely the escarpments or outer slopes of

Fig. 72.— Ebgion between Nyassa a>T) Taxoantika.

Scale 1 : 3.500,000.

EastoF G

feen.«.icl

10 Mue&.

the plateaux, but constitute in some places real elevated ranges. On the north-
east side especially they even assume the aspect of an Alpine region, towering
with some of its peaks to an altitude of nearly 7,000 feet, and, according to
some explorers, even exceeding 10,000 feet. Seen from the lake, this north-
eastern range, which has received the name of the Livingstone Mountains, in
honour of the illustrious traveller and discoverer of Nyassa, appears to terminate
towards its northern extremitj^ in a superb pyramidal peak. Southwards it is
continued parallel with the axis of the lake, gradually breaking into less elevated
heights and low hills, connected by numerous saddles, which give access from the
lacustrine basin to the valleys watered by the headstreams of the Eovimia. On
fhe eastern slope the range rises here and there but slightly above the surrounding
plateau, in which it rapidly merges altogether. Towards the sources of the
Ilovuma the culminating point is Mount Mtonia, which rises over 5,000 feet
above the lake.

250 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

On the west siflo of Xyassa there occur no ranges comparable to the Living-
stone chain, and hero the ground rises in some places but little above the mean
level of the plateau itself. Nevertheless, certain isolated masses present a very
imposing effect. Such is Mount Thombe, to which the English missionaries have
given the name of 'Waller, and which commands one of the narrowest parts of the
lake, near Florence Bay. Chombo forms a pyramidal sandstone mass with alter-
nating grey and blackish layers, and rising to a height of 5,500 fept. Other less
elevated peaks follow in a southerly direction along the coast between the lake
and the plateau, as far as the ^lolomo ilountains, which project between (ho
Zambese and the lower Shire. Carboniferous deposits of easy access have been
discovered in the valleys of the Mount Waller district.

Being thus pent up round about most of its periphery by elevated land,
Nyassa is fed by no large affluents. At its northern extremity, along the axis of
the lacustrine depression, where the explorer Young reported the probable exis-
tence of a large emissary, nothing occurs except a few rivulets flowing from the
mountains forming the watcrparting between Nyassa and Tanganyika. The
most cojiious streams come from the western slope, that is, from the side whcro
the general relief of the land is lowest. On the east or opposite side the parting-
line between the waters flowing to Nyassa and the Indian Ocean, runs at but a
few miles from the margin of the lake, which consequently from this direction
receives only some' small affluents, often falling through a series of cascades down
to the shore. i\Jtogether Nyassa jDOssesses an extremelj- limited area of drainage
compared with its great superficial area. Hence the water is maintained through-
out the year nearly at the same level, the rise and fall ."scarcely exceeding three feet.
According to the report of the missionaries there was a continuous slight subsi-
dence during the period from 1875 to 1880. At its southern extremity Nyassa
terminates, like Tanganj-ika, in a " horseshoe," but even more .sharply outlined,
and this horseshoe is disposed in two secondary bays or inlets, tapering gradually
southwards.

TirE Shire and Loa\-er Zambese.

From the eastern and longer of these bays, the lacustrine overflow escapes
through the outlet of the Shire River. The current is at first broad and sluggish,
and soon expands into the little Lake Pamalombe, whose flat banks are every-
where overgrown with tall reeds. Beyond this jDoint the Shire continues its
southerly course down to the edge of the terrace formation, whence it tiuubles
over a series of cataracts in the direction of the Zambese. At these cataracts,
which have received the name of the Murchison Falls, all navigation, whether for
boats or steamers, is completely arrested, but is resumed lower down and continued
with little further obstruction as far as the sandbars blocking the mouths of the
Zambese. Throughout the whole of this stretch the only impediment to the
traffic are the accumulated masses of tangled aquatic vegetation — nymplieaccce and
other plants, such as the phi'm strutioics and alfasiitJia, or " lettuce" of the Portu-

THE LOWER ZA.1IBESE.

251

guose, through which the boatmen find it difHcult to penetrate, especially during the
months of May and June, when the vegetable growth is most vigorous.

South of the confluence of the Ruo or Luo, which since 1891 flows between
British and Portuguese territory, and is navigable by boats for 50 miles, a nearly

Fig. "3. — ZiJrtBESE AND SlItEE CONFLUENCE.
Scale 1 : 800,00:1.

IS Miles.

isolated forest-clad mountain springs from amid the surrounding swamps to an
altitude of no less than 4,000 feet. Such is the superb Morambala, or " Sentinel
Mountain," a conspicuous landmark for the boatmen and riverain" populations of
the Lower Zambese fdr a circuit of 60 miles. Thermal springs, very eflScacious for
some disorders, are said to well up at its foot.

252

SOUTU AND EAST AFRICA.

TiiK Zamhese Dki.ta.

The united current of the Zambcse and tlic Sliiic, wLicli at ccrfain points Is
slated 1o be no less than eight niiks -wide fn ni bank to bank, flows below the
confluence in a south-easterly direction ; it then trends to the south and again to

Fi^. 74. — Zaubese Delta.
Scale 1 : 1,300,000.

DeplliS.

Oto 32
Feet.

32 Feet and
upwards.

18 Miles.

the south-east before ramifying into several distinct branches to form its "goose-
toot " delta. All the waters ultimately find their way seawards through numerous
mouths, such as the Mclumbc on the south, the Inhamissengo or Kongoiii towards
the north, the eastern Lu-Ebo, the Muzelo, the Chiude, the Inhamiara, and
others. The western Lu-Ebo, or Luasse, a channel winding to the coast on the
extreme south, i* connected with the delta proper only during the periodical

THE ZAMBESE DELTA. 253

inundations. Of all tlie branches the most navigable is the Chinde, which was for
the first time ascended by Consul (now Sir 11. H.) Johnston in 1889, and found to
present continuous waterway throughout the year for email craft all the way from
the sea to the foot of the Shire rapids. But all the channels are frequently modified
by storms and floods, and both on the north and the south side of the delta are seen
old watercourses which were formerly mouths of the erratic river, but are now
merely winding streams or backwaters, either completely separated from the Zam-
bese or only temporarily connected with it during the floods. Sea-going vessels
can easily ascend the Lower Zambese as far as the foot of Mount Mirambala,
sailing before the east wind which mostly prevails in this region.

Geologically the delta is far more extensive than it appears at present. It
may bo said to begin almost immediatelj' below the Shire confluence, where the
channels of backwaters and false rivers, survivals of an ancient current, and still
flooded during the inundations, are seen to diverge gradually from the mainstream
in the direction of the east. Here they effect a junction with the sluggish current
of the Rio Mute, which formerly communicated with the Quelimane estuary, but
which is now completely obstructed by alluvial deposits and aquatic plants.
Hence the necessity of seeking another channel or outlet for ihc riverain craft,
which was found somewhat lower down the Zambese at a portage leading to the
Barabuanda, better known as the Kwa-Kwa (Qua-Qua), or " River of Forced
Labour," because the natives are compelled to deepen or keep it open by dredging.
This watercourse winds in the direction of Quelimane, which seaport it reaches
after a course of over 70 miles. For more than half of this distance above the
port it is navigable for steamers drawing 6 or 7 feet of water, and the whole
distance for light craft.

During the annual inundations of the Zambese, its bunks are completely
flooded, and the mainstream thus becomes united with the Quelimane River
through an intricate network of marshy depressions. The river has moreover
recently shifted its bed, and now reaches the coast some 6 miles farther north,
that is, so much nearer to its periodical Quelimane branch. The abandoned
channel is still visible, now transformed to a circular lagoon. The same erosive
action is still progressing northwards, so that the "African Lakes Company'^
had to forsake a building which before the year 1886 stood about half a mile from
the bank, and erect another some considerable distance farther to the north.
Should this northward tendency be continued much longer, the Zambese will efl'ect
a permanent jimction with the Kwa-Kwa, and the original delta will be restored to
its full dimensions. In any case a navigable communication might easily be
established between the Zambese and Quelimane by cutting a canal through tlie
intervening low-lying portage.

After long and tedious negotiations, accompanied by much friction, and almost
open hostilities, the claims of the Portuguese to the exclusive navigation of the
Zambese were at last withdrawn and the great artery declared free to the shipping
of all nations by the Agreement between Great Britain and Portugal of
March 10, 1892.

25i SOUTH AND EAST AFBICA.

Climate of the Zambese Basin.

In such a vast area of drainage as that of the Ku-Rango and Zamhcso river
systems, the climate naturally presents many contrasts according to the aspect oi"
the laud, its general relief and distance from the sea. About the region of the
farthest sources, comprising a portion of the plateau where the Ouanza aad the
Ivassai also take their rise, the climatic conditions are the same as those of the
Angolan uplands. Hero the rainfall is abimdant, thanks to the moist west winds
from the Atlantis ; but the transitions are at times very sudden from heat to cold.
So also on the extensive level plains traversed by the Lower Ku-Bango, cool weather
alternates with intense heat, although here Httlo moisture is precipitated by the
normally dry atmosphere. These regions form, in fact, a northern continuation
of the Great Karroo and of the Kalahai'i Desert, and almost everywhere present
nearly the same meteorological phenomena.

Farther cast, the Middle Zambese region in the same way reproduces the
conditions prevalent in the Transvaal, while the zone of coastlands, being abun-
dantly watered and e.xiJoscd to the regular action of the trade-winds and marine
breezes, belongs rather to tropical Africa. The fierce hurricanes so destructive on
the high seas, arc unknown on this seaboard of the Zambese delta. The most
carefully studied part of the whole basin is that of Lake Nyassa, where European
missionaries and traders have long been stationed. Ilei-e the rains, which begin in
December and last till April or May, are sufficiently copious, even in a compara-
tively dry year, amounting to 90 inches at Bandawe. Towards the south the
rainfall gradually diminishes, being scarcely more than 33 inches at Tetc, on the
Zambese.*

Flora.

A striking contrast is presented between the wealth of the vegetation on (he
seaboard and its poverty farther inhmd. To the rich flora of the coastlands the
aspect of equatorial forests is imparted by the great variety of palms, including
even a species of the banyan, or as it is here called, the " many-legged tree." But
in the interior an exuberant vegetation occurs only in the districts more favoured
by a copious rainfall or an abundant supply' of running waters. Such are, for
instance, the summits of the cliffs exposed to the heavy vapours constantly rolling
up from the bottomless chasm of the great Victoria Falls.

Speaking generallj^ the Zambese basin, which is entirely comprised within
the torrid zone, yields in richness of vegetation to that of the better watered
region of the Congo. Its flora is ■ mainlj' composed of forms common to that
botanical zone, but also includes a 'few species which have penetrated from the
Cape northwards beyond the tropic of Capricorn. One of these immigrants is the

• Temperature at Bandawe, on the west side of Nyassa, IT 4' S. latitude: mean for November,
hottest month, 85' F. ; May, coldest month, 60° ; extreme heat, 99° ; extreme cold, 54°. Mean tempe-
rature at Tete, 16' 10' S, latitude, OJ' F. ; mean for Nyvcmber, Lottcat month, 83' ; July, coldest mouth,
Tl' F.

FAUNA OF THE ZAMBESE BASIN. 255

silver-tree {leucadcndron argcnteum) which is met as far inland as the Upper
Zambese. A number of plants belonging to the Cape flora also occur on the high-
lands skirting the shores of Lake Nyassaat elevations ranging from 5,000 to 6,500
feet above the sea. The southern limits of the fluvial basin coincide very nearly
with the zone over which the baobab has spread.

Fauna.

In certain parts of the Zambese region the fauna is still surprisingly rich both in
numbers and diversity of forms. At the time of Livingstone's explorations, before
the white man with his firearms had yet invaded the land, the multitudes of
animals roaming over the riverain savannahs is described as " prodigious," and
these coimtless herds still grazed fearlessly near the haunts of man. The
elephant, buffalo, and wild boar had not yet learnt to avoid his presence, and the
guinea-fowl in flocks of many hundreds perched confidently on the neighbouring
trees.

xiccording to Holub, the naturalist, who has most carefully explored the
Zambese basin, this region, so abounding in animal forms, has no less than seven
species of rhinoceros, four of lions, and three of elephants. Even in the eighties
Capello and Ivens still spoke of the plains watered by the Liba as a vast " zoo-
logical garden,'' where the sportsman has his pick and choice of the game needed
to supply the wants of the expedition. In some districts lions are so numerous
that at night they lay siege to the villages, and keep up an incessant roar till the
" small hours." But in other parts of the fluvial basin the hunter has already
done his work of extermination. Prudence has taught the lion to be dumb ; the
hippopotamus, which snorted loud enough to be heard half a mile off, has learnt
the wisdom of silence, and now swims about with bated breath, or at sight of the
canoe takes refuge amid the tall reeds.

Since the introduction of firearms some wild mammals have already dis-
appeared altogether in the hunting-grounds visited by Europeans. The white
rhinoceros, a gentle and trusting beast, has been rapidly extirpated ; but the black
species, which has a savage temper, still survives in districts remote from the
beaten tracks. On the northern slope of the Zambese neither the ostrich nor the
giraffe is. now seen. Both of these animals appear to have been arrested in their
migrations northwards by the course of the river, for they were still numerous
before the advent of the white settlers in Southern Rhodesia. According to
Oswell and Livingstone, the wild animals of Austral Africa diminish in size in
the direction from south to north. Thus the antelopes become smaller and smaller
as they approach the equator, and even the elephant loses in bulk, while by a
singular contrast his tusks acquire a larger growth. A marked difference has also
been observed in the proportions of domestic animals of both regions. The horned
cattle bred by the Bechuanas are much larger and stronger than those belonging
to the Batokas of the Zambese. The rule, however, has its exceptions.

In some of the river valleys of the Upper Zambese, and probably also in the

25G SOUTH AND EAST Al'RICA,

Kafukwc basin, there exists an extremely curious species of antelope, whose broad
feet are better adapted for swimming than for bounding over the plains. These
quishohos, as they are called by the people of Eihe, pass nearly all their life in the
water, in which they are often seen to dive, leaving nothing above the surface
except their two twisted horns. At night they leave the river to browse on the
surrounding grassy plains. Their absence from the lower reaches of the river
may perhaps be attributed to the crocodiles, which are here very nunferous and
exceptionally voracious. The nakong, another almost amphibious species of ante-
lope, inhabits the muddy swamps which receive the discharge of the Chobe River.
The enormous size of his foot, which is no less than twelve inches to the extremity
of the hoof, enables the nakong to pass easily over the trembling quagmires with-
out sinking. Like the quisbobo, he also grazes at night, concealing himself during
the day amid the tall reeds. "When pursued he plunges into the stream, leaving
nothing exposed except his back-curved horns and the tij) of his nozzle. The
natives set fire to the reeds in order to compel the nakong to leave his marshy
lair ; they report that he will allow his horns to be consumed before quitting the
water and resuming his flight.

Except in the Upper Zambcse, where animal life is comparatively rare, the
main stream as well as the riverain lagoons teem with several kinds of fishes.
One of these, the Mosheba, which inhabits the waters of the Middle Zambese, has
the power of flight, like the oceanic flying-fish. After the passage of boats it
darts into the track, and rising above the surface by the strength of its pectoral
fins, follows in the wake for a distance of several yards. The fish-eagle {cuncuma
vocifcr) destroys an enormous quantity of fish, far more than he can possibly con-
siinic. Usually, he selects only the dainty morsels on the back of the animal, and
often does not even take the trouble of capturing the prey himself. When he
spies a pelican with its pouch dilated with store for future consumption, he drops
like a plummet, all the time beating bis wings. This so scares the pelican that it
raises its head and opens wide its great mandibles, from which the eagle, passing
like a flash, snatches the captured prey.

All the marshy tracts are frequented bj^ flocks of aquatic birds as numerous as
the penguins and seagulls on certain oceanic islands. The j^orra africana, one of
these fish-eaters, is provided with such broad feet that he is able to advance into
mid-stream on the outspread lotus leaves without bending them, walking, as it
were, on the surface of the water as on solid ground. The Zambcse waters are
also infested by crocodiles, which are here extremely dangerous, thus differing from
their congeners in so manj- other rivers, where they never willingly attack man.
Everj' year reports are constantly heard in the riverain villages of women and
children snapped off on the banks of the streams, of travellers and boatmen killed
or mutilated by these voracious reptiles, which in the lower reaches of the
Zambese are said annually to devour about two hundred and fifty natives.
Amongst all the riverain populations any person wounded bj- the crocodile is
regarded as impure, and expelled from the tribe to avert the calamity his presence
would be sure to caixse.

■'*'^-^ft>-J

j^jl^.OHVO^u^

.;-s^

SS>^

.}^^''

■''il^n'ii,',^

"^^T.

BAROTSK TYPES.

THE AMBOELLAS.

257

Inhabitants of the Upper Zamhese Region.

The region of the great divide where the headstreams of the Ku-Bango and
Zambese take their rise is no more a parting-line for its human inhabitants than
it is for the animal species. On both slopes dwell tribes of the same race and of
the same 'speec^i, who migrate from one side to the other according to the vicissi-
tudes of social life common to all. At present this migratory movement is setting
in the direction from north to south. The Kiokos, who on the opposite slope are
invading the Lunda territorj% are also encroaching southwards on the Ganguella,
Lushaze, and Amboella domains, and some of them have already been met as far
south as the plains of the Lower Ku-Bango. In the Kassai basin they are gradu-
ally attracted beyond their ancient frontiers, chiefly by the inducements of trade ;
but the motive which, on the other side, impels them towards the south, is rather

Fig. 75. — IxHABITAKTS OF THE WaTEBPAEITNO BETWEEN THE CoNQO AXD ZaMBESE.

Scale 1 : 4,450,000.

5^ V, ^'i-'&».vi>A?'

Lesbpf G^eenw.c^l

the gradual disappearance of game from the formerly well-stocked hunting-
grounds.

The Upper Ku-Bango and the Ku-Ito valleys are occupied mainly by the
Ganguellas, who are akin to those of the same name in Angola, and who, here as
there, are divided into numerous communities, destitute of all political cohesion.
A dialect of the Ganguella language is also spoken by the Lushazos of the Upper
Kwa-Ndo, who are noted as skilled agriculturists and artisans, manufacturing
highly prized iron implements, wicker-work objects, and woven fabrics. Far less
vain of their personal appearance, and devoting less attention to elaborate head-
dressing than most of their neighbours, the Lushazes still clothe themselves in
wild beasts' skins and robes of macerated bast.

The Amboellas, also kinsmen of the Ganguellas, are spread in small groups
over a space of at least 300 miles from west to east, throughout the gently
sloping regions watered by the Ku-Bango, the Ku-Ito, and the Kwa-Ndo.

AFRICA IV. s

258 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

before these rivers emerge on the plains. The timid Amboella tribes shun the
open plain, most of them seeking the seclusion of the fluvial islands or the marshy
riverain tracts. Their reed huts, containing few objects beyond calabashes used
for diverse purposes, are all erected on piles and defended bj' the stream or the sur-
rounding quagmires. Although magnificent grazing-grounds cover the greater part
of their territory, which is also entirely free from the tsetse pest, the Amboellas breed
no cattle, their onlj^ domestic animals being some poultry. But th,ey are'excellent
husbandmen, raising fine crops, usually of maize, haricots, manioc, sweet potatoes,
groundnuts, gourds, and cotton ; and, thanks to the great fertility of the soil,
their industry generally enables them to keep well-stocked granaries. Being of
an extremely gentle and hospitable disposition, they cheerfully welcome strangers
visiting them, entertaining them with songs and music, and treating them as inti-
mate members of the family circle.

To the migratory movement drawing numerous northern peoples down to the
Zambese basin corresponds an opposite tendencj', by which the Bushmen and
Hottentot tribes are attracted to the Ganguella and Amboella domains in the
region of the Upper Ku-Bango. Of these the most important are the Mukassekeres
(Mu-Kassekere), a timid folk, who dwell in the woodlands and are ever ready to
take flight at the approach of danger. Building no abodes of any kind, they
encamp at the foot of the trees, liN-ing on wild berries, roots, and such animals as
come within reach of their arrows. Occasionally they do a little bartering trade
with the Amboellas, exchanging ivory and wax for manioc and other provisions.
Before the protection extended to them by the Rhodcsian authorities, they were
often enslaved, or even hunted like wild beasts, by their Bechuana neighbours.
Farther south, on the plains which gradually merge in the Kalahari Desert,
wander other Bushman tribes, who also ]^\e on roots and game. But their
favourite diet consists of bull-frogs and large lizards. They have even a trick
for compelling the boa to disgorge his half-digested antelope, finishing the meal
in his steitd.*

The B.\-Yeye and Ba-Lunda Nations.

On the Lower Ku-Bango and the plain of the " Thousand Lakes " mention
occurs of numerous groups, such as the Daricos, Ba-Vikos, Miikossos, and Ra-
Najoas. The last named, instead of cabins, construct platforms supported by tall
piles, amid which fires are kindled to drive away the mosquitos. The Ra-Najoas
are of Bechuana stock, like their western neighbours the Ba-Toanas, who about the
beginning of the present century parted company with their Bamangwato kinsmen
and sought fresh camping-grounds on the banks of Lake Ngami. After occupying
the eastern margin of the lake, these first immigrants were compelled to remove
farther west to the banks of the Lower Ku-Bango, in order to escape from the
incursions of the Matabele raiders. But since the overthrow of Lobengula, they
have returned to the lake, and now live in peace under the British administration.

• Chapman, Traveh into the Interior of South Africa.

THE BA-LUNDAS. 259

The primitive population of the country, who are also of Bantu speech, are
known by the name of Ea-Kuba, that is, " Serfs ; " but their own tribal designa-
tion is the more dignified Ba-Yeye, or "men." These Ba-Yeye, who according
to Chapman number as many as two hundred thousand altogether, are a peaceful,
honest, and industrious people, who are chiefly occupied with fishing, hunting, and
collecting salt from the surrounding salines. Their pursuits requiring them to be
constantly wading about in the shallow waters, they have become attached to their
swampy fens and lagoons, even founding their settlements in the midst of the reeds.
The Ba-Yeye are very superstitious, and like the Damaras worship or invoke
certain " mother trees." Amongst them, as amongst most of the neighbouring
tribes, the stranger has to choose a friend, who becomes answerable for his conduct
to the community, and who provides him with food, an ox, and a wife in exchange
for his commodities.

East of the Amboellas the whole of the alternately dry and swampy Lobale
plains, as well as the Upper Zambese basin, are inhabited by the Ba-Lundas, who
are akin to the Ka-Lundas of the Congo basin, and who formerly recognised the
suzerainty of the Muata Yamvo, although their chiefs were practically independent.
The national usages are much the same on both sides of the waterparting between the
Zambese and the Congo basins. The southern Ba-Lundas file their teeth and tattoo
their bodies like the northern Ka-Lundas ; like them, also, they go nearly naked,
smearing themselves with the oils extracted from various oleaginous vegetable
substances as substitutes for the more highly valued fat of oxen, which, when por-
curable, is reserved for the chiefs.

As on the banks of the Kassai, the prevailing ornament amongst the Upper
Zambese populations is brass wire. Great personages appear in public with their legs
laden with this metallic encumbrance, the fashion requiring them to walk swaying
heavily from side to side, as if a great effort were needed to raise the foot. Etiquette
is strictly enforced amongst the excessively ceremonious Ba-Lunda people. On
meeting a superior in social rank everyone hastens to fall on his knees and rub
his breast and arms with dust. Endless prostrations, all regulated by established
custom, are exacted of those approaching the king, who is seated on a throne
holding in his hand a fly-whisk made of gnu-tails. Both the Christian and
Mohammedan styles of salutation have penetrated into the country, following in
the track of the traders. Thus some of the Ba-Lundas salute strangers with a low
bow accompanied by the expression " Ave-ria," a corruption of " Ave Maria,"
while others utter the word " Allah I " as an exclamation of surprise.

Thanks to the fertility of their always abundantly watered territory, the
Ba-Lundas enjoy a superfluity of provisions, which they willingly share with their
lasitors. Profusely hospitable, they are at the same time of a peaceful, genial dis-
position. No trace of cannibalism has been discovered amongst them ; neither do
they slaughter women or children to accompany the departed chief to the other
world. The Ba-Lunda women enjoy a relatively large share of liberty, the wives
of the elders always taking part in the tribal deliberations, while man}- commu-
nities are even governed by queens. At the death of these queens, the royal

s 2

260 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

residence, with the whole village, is abandoned, the natives rebuilding their huts
and reclaiming fresh land in another district. Even when unknown to European
explorers, the Ba-Lundas long maintained indirect commercial relations with the
Portuguese of the western seaboard through the agency of the Biheno people.
The beeswax exported from Loanda and Benguella comes for the most part from
their forests, where it is collected in bark hives suspended from the trees uud
protected by terrible fetishes from the rapacity of marauders. '

The Barotse Protectorate.

The various tribes inhabiting the Zambese valley properly so called, below the
confluence of the Liba with the Kabombo, have been united in a single state among
the South African peoples variously known by the name of Barotse (Ba-Rots^),
Ungenge, Lui, or Luina. Sebituaui, founder of this empire, was a Basuto con-
queror, who led a host of warriors victoriously across the whole region comprised
between the Orange and the Zambese, enrolling under his banner all the young
men of the conquered tribes along the line of march. On reaching the Zambese
and Chobe confluence, Sebituani and his Makololo followers took possession of this
peninsular region, which being protected by vast swampy tracts served as the centre
of the new kingdom, and was soon peopled by at least three hundred thousand souls.
It was here that Livingstone visited them, and their capital, Linj'ati, a town of
over fifteen thousand inhabitants, situated on the north bank of the Chobc, became
the centre of his explorations in all the surrounding Zambese lands.

But the missionaries who succeeded him met with less favour, and several of
them having succumbed either to the effects of the climate or to poison, the report
was spread abroad that some calamity was pending over the Makololos. The storm
was in truth already gathering. The Luinas, or Barotses properly so called, who
had reluctantly submitted to their foreign rulers, now broke into revolt, and falling
suddenly on the unsuspecting Makololos, massacred them almost to the last man.
Two only, with their wives and children, were said to have been spared in the whole
peninsula. Terror-stricken by the news of the overwhelming disaster, the Mako-
lolos dwelling south of the Chobe fled westwards and sought a refuge amongst
the Ba-Toanas settled on the banks of Lake Ngami. By them they were received
with apparent friendship, but as soon as the unarmed suppliants ventured within
the royal enclosure, they were suddenly attacked and slaughtered by the Ba-Toana
warriors. Thus perished the Makololo nation. Their women were distributed
amongst the conquerors, and their children brought up under other names in the
villages and encampments of the Barotses.

But despite this change of masters, the kingdom founded by Sebituani was
maintained even south of the Chobe. The Barotses themselves did not venture
to cross the line of natural defence formed by the surrounding marshes. But
north of this limit they took the place of Makololos as rulers of the land, and
soon after annexed the whole of the Mabunda (Ma-Mbunda) territory, which had
been inherited b\- a queen too weak to maintain herself on the throne. When

THE BAEOTSE PEOTECTOEATE. 261

Holub visited the Barotse kingdom in 1875, as many as eighteen large nations,
subdivided into over a hundred secondary tribes, were represented by their dele-
gates at the court of the sovereign and the regent his sister. Moreover, a large
number of fugitives from other tribes — Matebeles, Baraangwatos, Makalakas —
dwelt within the borders of the state, to which they paid tribute. From the
Zambese .and Chobe confluence to the northern frontiers there was reckoned a
distance equal th a journey of from fifteen to twenty days, and the superficial area
of the whole kingdom exceeded 200,000 square miles in 1899, when the popula-
tion was about two millions. Each of the tribes in the vast empire speaks its own
dialect, but Sesuto, that is the language of their exterminated Makololo masters,
serves as the common medium of general intercourse, and as the official language
of the state. The Makololos have disappeared, but their inheritance has remained,
and thanks to them the range of the Sesuto tongue has been enlarged tenfold.

The administrative S3"stem of the Barotse state is also, at least to some extent,
a legacy from the Makololos ; but the penal code was formerly of a very barbarous
character, whence the local saying that " no one grows old in the Barotse country."
In the time of Serpa Pinto, the king was assisted by a council of three ministers,
one for war and the two others for the foreign affairs of the south and the west.
Since then European missionaries and travellers have been freely admitted into
the country, and M. Coillard, agent of the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society,
has been stationed for many years at the residence of the present ruler. King
Lewanika. It was partly through his influence that this potentate, described as
the exact counterpart of Mtesa of Uganda, was induced to place his empire under
the protection of the South Africa Chartered Company in the j^ear 1899. This
potentate is favourably spoken of by Major Gibbons, who thrice visited Barotse-
land in the nineties, and was nearly everywhere well received by the officials and
natives.* Thanks to this increasing intercourse, the manners of the rude Barotse
peoples have been much softened in recent years. They have even taken to
European clothes, which are supplanting the old national dress of tanned skins.

The Barotses, properly so called, inhabit the banks of the main stream between
the Kabompo and Chobe confluences. They are skilled boatmen, with chest and
shoulders highly developed compared with the lower members ; but leprosy is a
prevalent disease amongst them. The Zambese supplies them with abundance of
food, including besides fish, the hippopotamus, the flesh of which animal is highly
esteemed. Hunters are also stationed along the banks of the river and lateral
channels, whose duty it is to keep the Court supplied with this game.

The alluvial soil in this section of the river exceeds in fertility all other parts
of the valley, and yields magnificent crops. Cattle thrive well on the pasturages
skirting the plateau east and west. The part of the fluvial valley peopled by the
Barotses is in some places at least 30 miles broad, and throughout the whole of
this territory " famine is unknown " (Livingstone). In order to protect themselves
from the annual inundations, which enrich their land and make it another Egypt,

* See especially M. Coilliird's On the Threshold of Central Africa (1897), and A. St. H. Gibbona'
Exploration and Hunting itt Central Africa (1S9S).

262 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

the natives arc obliged to build their villages on artificial mounds, scattered like
islands amid the inland sea caused by the periodical floods.

The Mabundas, who share the government of the country with the Barotses,
inhabit the more elevated terraces which skirt the north side of the Zambese
plains. All are very religious or superstitious peoples, invoking the sun, worship-
ping or paying a certain homage to the new moon, and celebrating feasts at the
graves of their forefathers. Belief in the resurrection is unive.'sal, but it takes
rather the character of a metempsychosis, the wicked being born again in the
lower animals, the good in more noble forms, but nobody caring to resume the
human state. In this life provision may also be made for the future transforma-
tion by eating the flesh of the animal intended to be our " brother," by imitating
its gait and its voice. Hence a Ma-Rotse * will occasionally be heard roaring like
a lion, in preparation for his leonine existence in the next world.

Of the other nations subject to the Barotse empire some are reduced to a state
of servitude differing little from downright slavery ; others have preserved their
tribal independence, or at least a large measure of self-government for all internal
affairs, but pajTiig tribute either in cereals, or fruits, matting, canoes, or other
manufactured wares, or else such products of the forests and the chase as ivory,
beeswax, honey, and caoutchouc. The Masupias (Ma-Supia) are serfs employed
in fishing and hunting for the Barotses in the region about the Chobe and Zambese
confluence. Farther south dwell the Madenassanas (Ma-Denassana), a people of
mixed descent, resembling the Bechuanas in stature and physical appearance, the
Central African Negroes in their features. Like the Masupias, they are enslaved
hunters and peasants, as are also the Manansas (lla-Xansa), whose services were
long a bone of contention between the neighbouring Matebele and Barotse nations.

A still more important reduced tribe are the Batokas (Ba-Toka), who occuj)y
the left or north bank of the main stream above the Victoria Falls. All the
Batokas of both sexes extract the incisors of the upper jaw on arriving at the age
of puberty, and this j^ractice, which, like circumcision among the neighbouring
peoples, is performed in secret, has assumed a purely religious character. But when
questioned as to the origin of the custom, they reply that its object is to make
them look like oxen. It is noteworthy that the not yet evangelised eastern
Damaras observe the same practice and attribute it to the same motive. The
incisors of the under jaw, being no longer hindered in their growth by those of
the upper, project forward and cause the Hp to protrude, thus giving the natives
a repulsive appearance characteristic of decrepit old age.

In the Kafukwe basin, stretching north of the Batokas, dwell the Bashuku-
lompos (Ukulombwe), a people who go naked, and are said to till the land with
hoes of hardened wood. They distinguish themselves by their style of headdress
from all other African tribes, amongst whom there nevertheless prevails such a
surprising diversity of taste and fancy in this respect. Saturating or greasing
their fleecy curls with butter, and mixing them with the hair of sundry animals,

• Ma is the singrular, Jla the plural personal prefix ; hence Ma-Sotae equals one member of the tribe,
Ba-Eotte equals the whole nation.

BAEOTSELAXD.

263

they arrange the whole in the form of cones of various sizes, some disposed verti-
cally, others made to project forwards. Livingstone met a chief whose superb tiara,
terminating with a little rod, towered to a height of three feet above his head.
Not many European travellers have yet penetrated into Bashukulompoland besides
Gibbons, Silva Porto, and Holub. The latter was fortunately accompanied by his
wife, whom the astonished natives took for a supernatural being. She was
proclaimed queen by one tribe, and on many occasions her presence saved the
expedition from complete disaster.

East of the Bashukulompo territory stretches the North Manica country, a
state which is quit€ distinct from the Manica district on the south side of the Lower
Zambese. This region, which is contiguous to the Msiri territory, in the Upper
Congo basin, is governed by a king who, like so many other sovereigns in Nigritia,

Fig. 76. — BiEOTSE Uplaitbs.
Scale 1 ; 3,200,000.

Ease of GrcjTivvich ,gg'

.60 Miles.

" never eats " ; that is to say, no subject is permitted to enter his residence when
he is at table. Like most of his neighbours, he recognises the jurisdiction of the
Suuth Africa Chartered Company.

Topography of B.^rotselaxd.

In the Barotse empire are met the first centres of population which may be
said to possess any commercial or political importance. But most of these towns
are displaced with each fr^h accession to the throne. All public misfortunes are
attributed to the baneful influence of the ground, and a more favourable site is
consequently sought in order to escape from the evil spirits who are supposed to
have caused the death of the last ruler. The inundations of the Zambese have
also destroyed many places by sapping the artificial mounds on which they were
built. In this way Nabiek, the ancient Barotse capital, has ceased to exist, or is

2(54 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA

represented only by a cluster of wretched hovels. Lihotifa, residence of the queens,
visited by Livingstone, has also been dethroned, and Serpa Pinto, who passed close
to its site, does not even mention it b}' name.

In 1878, when this traveller traversed the Barotse valley, the royal residence
had been shifted to Liahii, some 12 miles to the east of the river, and this place
appears to have ever since remained the seat of goveninient. Below the Nambwe
cascades and rapids the new village of Sfsheke (Kisseke, Sbisheke), which
succeeded to another Seslieke consumed by a conflagration in 1875, has in its turn
become an imperial capital, or rather a trysting-placo for the chiefs and their
retainers. On the other hand, Linyanti, formerly metropolis of the Makololo
kingdom, has lost all its importance. In the Chobe valley the chief stations are
M<it(imbi/aiie's, near the sources, and Mpalera (Impakra, Mparira, Embarira) on an
island at the Zambese confluenoe.

Southern Rhodesia. — Matabele and M.\shoxa Lands.

Probably no part of the world has ever undergone a more profound and rapid
political transformation than the region which lies between the Limpopo and tlie
Zambese, and stretches east and west from Gazaland to the Bechuana territory.
So recently as the year 1892 there still converged about the Victoria Falls of the
Middle Zambese ihe three powerful native states of North Bechuanaland (Khama's
country), Barotseland (Lewauika'a country), and Matabeleland (Lobengula's
country), Since then these " empires " have partly disappeared altogether, and
partly become British dependencies, while the whole region, with a collective area
of some 675,000 square miles, is now administered, either directly or indirectly,
by the Colonial Office.

It has already been seen how the great chieis, Khama and Lewanika, have
accepted the British protectorate, which has enabled them to survive the " wreck
of nations," and continue the peaceful government of their subjects, under
improved social and political conditions. The fate of Lobengula, last of a dynasty
sustained by terrorism, and head of a military system of a peculiarly atrocious
type, was necessarily different. Strictly speaking, the change, as affecting his
status, began in 1888, when the whole region between the Limpopo and the
Zambese — Matabele and Mashona Lands, held or claimed by Lobengula — was
declared to be within the British sphere of influence. This step, necessitated by
the scarcely concealed designs of the Germans and their Boer allies to seize those
lands, and thus bar the further extension of British rule northwards, was followed
by the formation of the British South Africa Company, which in 1889 received a
Royal Charter, with sovereign powers, enabling it to take such measures as would
warn off all intruders, and bring about an effective occupation of the country under
the British flag. This policy of Imperial expansion was inevitably attended by
the overthrow of Lobengula and his people, who were not so much a nation, in the
strict sense of the word, as a military host, an organised band of barbarous
invaders, encamped round about the royal kraal at Bulawayo (" Place of
Slaughter"), on the Matoppo heights, in the midst of naturally peaceful agri-

MATABELELAND, 265-

cultural and industrious populations. At first a mere detachment of Zulus, them-
selves a heterogeneous horde brought together from every tribe, the Matabeie
band recruited itself under the terrible Musselekatsi from the young men of all
the enslaved or exterminated races attacked during their iiiarauding expeditions.
In 1864, when the missionary Mackenzie visited the Matabele king, nearly all the
veterans -p-hom he saw in the army were Aba-Zunzi, that is, Kaffirs originally from
Xatal and Zululand. The warriors in the prime of life were members of the
various Bechuana tribes reduced by Musselekatsi during bis ten years' residence
in the region which is now known as the Transvaal. Lastly, the younger soldiers
were Makalakas and Mashonas, originally from the Limpopo and Zambese water-
parting which later constituted the Matabele kingdom.

All these warriors had begun their career as captives. At first their only duties
were to tend the royal herds ; then they followed the troops to the wars some-
what in the capacity of sutlers or conveyers of arms and provisions, on some
expedition calculated to test their courage and endurance. But once accustomed
in this way to the sight of blood they became warriors in their turn, slajong men
and women, as their own kindred had been slain. Until their assegais had " drunk
blood" they were held as aliens and slaves, and the meat thrown to them was first
rubbed in sand ; they were not reckoned as men till their first victims had fallen.
Like Chaka's Zulus, they were forbidden to marry or to bring up a family, for the
ranks of the all-conquering host had to be recruited exclusively from prisoners of
war. A violent death alone was held in honour ; the sick and ailiug were put
away and placed in charge of a medicine man, by whom they were either restored
to the camp after recovery, or else when dead thrown into the bush ; those enfeebled
by age were stoned.

Thus trained to pursue their human quarry, the Matebeles had become
extremely skilful at their trade of butchers. According to the king's " great law,"
they could never retreat before any odds, and cases occurred of whole regiments
allowing themselves to be massacred rather than yield even to overwhelming
numbers. At the bidding of their master, warriors armed only with the assegai
fearlessly attacked a lion or a buffalo, and often captured it alive. Proud of their
wounds, proud of their martial deeds, the Matebeles were abject slaves in the
presence of their sovereign, whom they hailed with shouts of " Great King ! Ruler
of Men ! " Yet, by a strange contrast, this very chief, whose most glorious title
was that of " Cannibal," was personally of an extremely sensitive nature. He
disliked the sight of suffering, and in his presence the herdsmen had to lay aside
the lash, guiding their droves with large branches or encouraging them with
kindness.

Such a system could be kept together only by constantly renewed campaigns. •
The armj- itself could procure supplies only by pillage, recruits only from the
captured in battle, although their country was one of the most fertile in the world.
"War being their exclusive pursuit, the Matebeles did not even await their ruler's
orders to fly to arms ; they often set out spontaneously to plunder the surrounding
lands, killing the men, carrj'ing off the women, children, and cattle. All traditions-

266 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

having been broken by expatriation and the military life, the JIatabcles no longer
remembered either the songs, the sayings, or the beliefs of the various races
whence they sprang. Having no religious rites of their own, they left the sacri-
fices, charms, and incantations to the professional wizards of the various districts
over which they roamed.

To Musselekatsi had succeeded his son, Lobengula, in 1870, and under his
rule the organised system of rapine and murder was continued with little abate-
ment till the end came, in 1893-4, It was brought about by the Chartered
Company's historical expedition of 1890, through, at that time, almost unknown
regions northwards to Mashonaland, under Colonel Pennefather. The immediate
result of this step, which extended British rule to the Zambese, was to enclose
Lobengula's ill-defined territory between the Bechuanaland protectorate on the
west, and on the south, east, and north by a cordon of strongholds, such as Fort
Tuli, Victoria, Fort Charter and Salisbury on Mount Hampden. There was at
once an end of the periodical Matabele raids, without which the military system
and the royal camping ground at Bulawaj'o could not be maintained. The king,
now in failing health, and more open to the influences of missionaries and political
agents, had held back the warriors eager to attack the expedition, and, to save a
remnant of his waning power, had even accepted the proffered protection of the
Chartered Company. But it was too late. His fiery indunas, impatient of the
unwonted restraint, clamoured for a renewal of their hereditary rights to plunder
and massacre the surrounding- populations. Thus occurred, in 1893, those un-
avoidable collisions on the Mashona borderlands, which gave the Company the
perhaps not unwished-for excuse for active interference, with the result that, after
a brief struggle, the Matabele impis were dispersed, and Bulawayo occupied
before the end of the year. Lobengula, who had already fled northwards,
perished of exhaustion before reaching the Zambese, in January, 1894, and
nothing remained but to reorganise the distracted land under the Chartered
Company.

Since then risings, and even serious revolts, attended by some stirring and
heroic episodes, have taken place amongst the Matabeles and Ma.shonas. But
nothing could arrest the progress of the imperial race. Orderlj* government
has been securely established throughout the whole region, which takes the ofiicial
designation of Southern Rhodesia, in honour of Mr. Cecil Rhodes, founder of
the Chartered Company, although the Company itself, compromised by the Jameson
Raid, has been partly deprived of its sovereign rights south of the Zambese.

By the Order in Council of November 25th, 1898, a larger measure of direct
control is vested in the High Commissioner at Capetown than he enjoyed under
the Charter of 1889, and the Orders in Council of 1891 and 1894, The Company's
Administrator is assisted by an Executive Council, consisting of the Resident
Commissioner (appointed by the Secretary of State), the district administrators, and
at least four other members appointed by the Company, with the approval of the
Secretary of State. There is also a Legislative Council, five members of which
are named by the Company, and four elected by the registered voters, for a term

SOUTHERN EHODESIA. 267

of three years. Justice is administered by a High Court, with judges appointed
by the Secretary of State, on the nomination of the Companj-, besides district
Courts, a Secretary for Native Affairs, with subordinate Native Commissioners.
The military police is controlled by the High Commissioner, and lands are set
aside for tribal settlements, while all mineral rights are reserved for the Company.
Within the limits laid down by the Order in Council of November, 1898,
Southern Rhodesia has an area of 175,000 square miles, and a population of
450,000, thus distributed : —

Area in

Sq. Miles. Pop. a899).

Matabeleland .... G1,000 240,000

Mashoualand .... 114,000 210,000

Total . . 175,000 450,000

In this population are now included several thousand British and Boer
colonists, engaged both in mining and agricultural pursuits, and permanently
settled in and about the newly-created townships of Bulawayo, Gwelo, Enkel-
doorn, Melsetter, Umtali, Victoria, and Salisbury. Owing to its salubrious and
commanding position on the breezy Mashona uplands, close to Mount Hampden,
jSr?Z('s6?<r(/ has been chosen as the new capital of Southern Rhodesia. Since 1899
it has been the inland terminus of the Beira Railway, which gives the rising colony
direct access to the east coast, through the Portuguese territory of Gazaland. Both
Salisbury and Bulawayo already present the aspect of thriving English towns,
with Government offices, banks, churches, hotels, schools, public libraries, hospitals,
railway stations, telegraphs, telephones, and several newspapers.

Railway and Telegraph Enterprise.
By the postal route organised in 1897 these places have been brought within
twenty- four days of London. Moreover, the transcontinental " Cape-to-Cairo Rail-
way," as it has been called by anticipation, was opened in 1897 as far as Bulawayo,
a distance of 1,3*30 miles from Cupetown, while the surveys for its extension
across the Zambese to Lake Tanganyika are in progress. When completed, this
southern section, having a total length of 2,220 miles, will be brought within
about 3,000 miles of the northern section, which was opened in 1899, from the
Mediterranean to Khartum, a total di.stance of 1,350 miles. International
arrangements appear to have been made by which the line may be carried
through the intervening tracts in German East Africa, or else by an alternative
route through the Congo Free State territory. Great progress has also been made
with the " African Transcontinental Telegraph " sj'stem, which was completed in
1899 from the Cape, through Rhodesia, to Karonga, on the west side of Lake
Nyassa, and is ultimately to be connected, through Uganda, with the Cairo-
Khartum line, opened in 1898. The total distance to be covered is estimated at
6,600 miles, and the cost at £500,000, while the estimate for the construction of
the middle section of the transcontinental railway is put down at about £12,000,000.
Jlr. Cecil Rhodes, promoter of these great imperial undertakings, expects that
both the railway and the telegraph systems will be completed in another decade,
or about the year 1909.

208

SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

Aborigines of Southern Rhodesia. — The Mashon.^s.

When the Matabeles, flying from the Transvaal Boers, crossed the Limpopo
and established themselves on the Matoppo heights, the surrounding regions were
occupied by numerous peaceful and industrious Bantu peoples, who still form the
bulk of the indigenous populations in Southern Rhodesia. Such are the Pa-Nyai,
a fine race, tall, strong, and of relatively light complexion, who o&upy the right
bank of the Zambese below the Victoria Falls. Such also are the Makalakas, and
the better-known Mashonas, who were the dominant people between the Limpopo
and the Zambese before they were dispossessed of much of their territory by the
intruding Matabeles.

Fig. 77.— Chiep Tbibes op thk Zajtbese Basin.
Scale 1 : 22,000,000.

^ ^-E^t^a UAJ7A --^MUitiM

20" Easb or Greenwich

35°

180 Miles.

The Mashonas, who constitilte the substratum of the population on the Zambese
or northern slope of the uplands, had been better able to resist oppression, because
their industry rendered them indispensable to their new masters. Although, like
the Makalakas, much degenerated, and by the JIatabeles regarded and spoken of
as Masholes — that is, " slaves," they alone practise the industrial arts, till the rice-
fields, make the household implements, weave the cotton fabrics, cut and embroider
the leather shields, and forge and sharpen the assegais and other weapons Small-
pox has made fearful ravages amongst them, and this disease was so dreaded that-
its victims were often thrown alive into the bush.

Some of the Mashona communities, protected by the mountainous nature of the
land, had been able to set up independent republics. But they lived in constant
terror of the Mataheles, and took refuge, with their active little cattle, on isolated
crags, the only approach to which was blocked by strong palisades. Their huts,

PORTUGUESE STATIONS ON THE LOWER ZAMBESE. 269

raised considerably above the ground, could be entered only by means of notched
poL's. Thev had good reason to fear the attacks of the Matabele warriors, who
" approach as stealthily and as invisibly as snakes, crawling as closely on the
ground, and concealed by the undergrowth, watch the movements of their intended
victims, the timid Mashonas. Then, when a favourable opportunity occurs, up
they rise like a wild black cloud of destruction. Hissing and shrieking their
fiei'cest Ijattle-pry, they bound and leap from rock to rock, dealing with fearful
precision the death-giving blow of the assegai, and ever and anon shouting with
thrilling ecstasy their terrible cry of triumph as they tear out the yet beating
hearts of their victims." *

Amongst the wandering outcasts whom the traveller meets in Matabeleland,
«ome are commonly known as Bushmen and Hottentots, whatever be their real
origin. The Ama-Zizi, conjurers and medicine men, appear to be really of Hotten-
tot stock. Some of the natives, known to the Portuguese by the name of Pandoros,
have acquired great influence over the other blacks by their magic arts. They fre-
quently withdraw to the woods in order to assume their true form of wild beasts, but
never condescend to show themselves abroad except in the appearance of men.

Numerous villages belonging to the Makorikori tribe lie to the north of the
Matabele and Mashona territories in a rugged mountainous region, whence impe-
tuous torrents flow towards the Zambese. The Makorikori, no less industrious
than the Mashonas, are specially noted for their skill in the treatment of leather,
which tliey draw out in narrow strips and then t^vist and plait into aU kinds of
ornaments. The women pierce the upper lip for the insertion of a ring made of
tin wire, which is sometimes embellished with pearls.

Portuguese Stations ox the Lower Zambese.

Farther north, in the valley of the main stream, dwell the Mtande people, whose
women also pierce the upper lip, into which they introduce the jaja, an ivory or
wooden ring. This district lies within the zone of the tsetse-fly, which the women
collect and dry, reducing it to a powder with the bark of a certain root, and mixing
the preparation with the food supplied to their domestic animals, goats, sheep, and
dogs. On the opposite, or left side of the Zambese, certain ruins still mark the
limits of the territory formerly occupied by the Portuguese in the interior of Africa.
These are the remains of the ancient town of Zumho, which, however, was far less
a town than a rural market-place. During the season thousands of native dealers
assembled here to purchase European wares from seven or eight so-called
" Canarians," that is merchants from Goa, in the Kanara country on the west coast
of India. During the period from 18:36 to 1863 Zumbo remained completely
abandoned by the Portuguese ; but since 1881 it has again been occupied, and is
now the residence of a Capitao Mor, or head governor. Hence it is again resorted
to by traders of various races, who find customers among the members of the sur-

• W. M. Kerr, The Far Interior, i., p. lOi.

270 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

rounding Basenga (Ba-Senga) tribe. This market-place has been well chosen at
the confluence of the Lua-Ugwe and Zambese, below that of the Kafukwc, in a
fertile and well-timbered country, encircled by picturesque hills. Zumbo can
scarcely fail to recover its former importance whenever the Portuguese carry out
the project of establishing new factories along the course of the Upper Zambese,
and working the coal, iron, and gold mines of the surrounding district.

Tete (Teite), covering the slope of a hill on the right bank of the, Zambese, was
the most inland town occupied by the Portuguese before they resumed posses-
sion of Zumbo. The European houses are all grouped within the ramparts
under the guns of the fort, while the huts of the blacks, made of mud and foliage,
are scattered over the outskirts round about the walls. This Portuguese town was
formerly a prosperous place, doing a largo trade in gold, ivory, cereals, and indigo.
But it was ruined by the slave-hunting expeditions, which left no hands to till the
land and gather the crops. At present it is little more than a group of wretched
hovels, where " solitude reigns supreme. On every side you see the wasting work
of Time's relentless hand. You see it in the crumbling ruins of the houses at one
time inhabited by prosperous merchants. Indigo and other weeds now rise rank
amid the falling walls, and upon spots where houses once stood. You see it in the
church which has now crumbled to the ground. Departed glory is knelled to you
by the bells which toll from the slight structure where the Jesuit fathers and their
small flock now perforin the rites of their creed." *

The little importance still enjoyed by Tete is derived from its position as a
garrison town and fortified outpost in the midst of a more or less hostile native
population. It has occasionally been cut off from all communication with the coast
by the incursions of the predatory Landins, or Zulu marauders. But the sur-
rounding district has the great advantage of being entirely free from the tsetse,
or pepse, as this scourge is called in Zambesoland ; but stock-breeders have hitherto
turned this great advantage to little account. The riverain tracts on the opposite
side are extremely fertile, and here most of the rich traders had their residences.

The Tete district, both north and south of the Zambese, promises one day to
become one of the most important mining regions in the whole of Africa. Here
are extensive coalfields, as well as auriferous deposits and rich iron ores, long
utilised by the Basenga and Makalaka blacksmiths. The Serra Maxinga (Mashinga
Range), which rises northwards above the surrounding solitudes, was formerly
worked by Portuguese miners. Here the rock containing the precious metal is
said to be so soft that the women arc able to crush it between two blocks of wood,
and then wash it for gold. Auriferous deposits also occur to the south of Tete, in
the Makorikori territory, and especially in the valleys of the ilozoe and its
affluents. Paiva de Andrada describes as a sort of future Eldorado the Shangamira
district, which Mauch had previously designated by the name of the " Emperor
"William Mines." A few ruins of old momxmtnts are scattered over these gold-
fields, where, according to Kuss, the natives are in the habit of sowing nuggets
in the confident hope of gathering a rich golden harvest.

• Kerr, op. eit. ii. p. 42

NORTHERN RHODESIA. 271

Senna, or Sao-Margal, the "moribund," which lies on the right bank of the
Zambese, at the foot of a high bluff, and over against the navigable Ziu-Ziu branch
communicating with the Shire, is even a more decayed place than Tete. It has
often had to pay tribute to its Umgoni (Angoni Zulu) neighbours, and even to
barricade itself at night against the lions.

I^ORTHERN EhoDESIA. BRITISH CENTRAL AfRICA PROTECTORATE.

Owing to its recent introduction into the geographical nomenclature of South
Africa, and partly also to its somewhat uncertain application, considerable vague-
ness still attaches to the meaning of the term " Rhodesia." It may, therefore, be
well to explain that, used in a general way, Rhodesia is now understood to com-
prise the whole of the British South African dependencies which have hitherto
been included in the field of operations of the South Africa Chartered Company.
As these dependencies lie partly north and partly south of the Zambese, which, in
fact, divides them into two nearly equal parts, the expressions "Northern Rhodesia"
and " Southern Rhodesia " have come into use to indicate the two divisions. But
official sanction has hitherto been given to the second expression alone, and, as
above seen. Southern Rhodesia has been accurately defined and constituted a
separate colony by the Order in CouncU of November, 1898.

The dependencies north of the Zambese comprise the whole of that part of
Central Africa which is bounded west and east by the Portuguese possessions on
the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, and on the north by German East Africa and the
Congo Free State. Thej' form three distinct political divisions — the Barotselaud
Protectorate in the west ; the British Central Africa Protectorate in the east ; and,
between the two, the territory which is directly administered by the Chartered
Company, and to which the expression Northern Rhodesia should therefore be
restricted. Collectively, these regions have an area of about 492,000 square miles,
with an estimated population (1899) of 3,500,000, as under : —

Ar«a in
Sq. Miles. Population.

Barotse Protectorate .... 200,000 2,000.000

Northern Rhodesia .... 250,000 650,000

British Central Africa Protectorate . 42,000 850,000

Total . . 492,000 3,,500,000

This vast domain, forming the chief sphere of Livingstone's labours, and
bequeathed by him as a legacy to the British people, was not occupied without a
severe struggle against antagonistic elements, which have not yet been everywhere
overcome. For several deoddes the land had been a prey to the Arab slave-hunters,
and their native allies, who resented and resisted with all their power the intrusion
of the white man in their preserves. Thus the very first efforts of the British
pioneers — traders, planters, and missionaries, followed later by Consuls, political
agents, and armed forces — brought about that conflict between the Crescent and
the Cross, symbols of Eastern and Western culture, which has scarcely yet been
fought out to the bitter end. But the triumph of Western ideas is already secured,

272 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

aud the British hold of the central regions beyond the Zarabese is too firmly
established to be henceforth endangered by any combination of adverse circum-
stances. The Arabs and their Zanzibari confederates have been cleared out ; the
strength of the dominant and more unruly tribes — Makololos, Angoni, Yaos, and
others — has been broken, aud they have discovered that their best interests require
the transference of their allegiance from the Muharamadan slavers and raiders to<
the British flag, everywhere the emblem of law, of firm, but just anri orderly
government.

A complete scheme of effective administration has already been developed in
Northern Rhodesia, where the Chartered Company has divided the region lying
between Lakes Nyassa, Tanganyika, Mweru (Moero), and Bangweolo into five
administrative districts — Chambozi, Tanganyika, Mweru, Luapula, and Loangwa.
Besides the headquarters, trausferrod in 18'J9 from Blantyre to a central position
on the Tanganyika-Xyassa plateau, strongly fortified stations have been founded
at several points, such as Fije and Ahercorn, both on the Stevenson Road. This
remarkable engineering work, which crosses the plateau for 140 miles, in a north-
westerly direction, from the north end of Nyassa to the south end of Tanganyika,
was partly reconstructed and completed in 1898. Steamers also ply on the lakes;
the telegraph is advancing from Karonga northwards ; a beginning has been made
with coffee culture, and the prospects of the Company have been improved by the
discovery of coal, gold, and other minerals at various points in territory either
under their jurisdiction or owned by them.

From the surveys made by Mr. Hector Croad, Mr. C. D. Hoste, and Captain
Gibbons, during the j'ears 189G-99, it appears that the greater part of Northern
Rhodesia is a much more favoured land in respect of climate and natural resources
than had hitherto been supposed. Slost of the elevated region, which forms a
westward extension of the Tanganyika-Nyassa plateau to Barotseland, aud includes
the well-watered Loangwa basin, draining south to the Zambese, and the Chambezi,
and other head-streams of the Luapula flowing north to the Congo, may claim to
be one of the most productive, best irrigated, and healthiest zones in the whole of
inter-tropical Africa. Under an efficient administration it cannot fail to become,
not merely the sanatorium, but the granary of the more arid and somewhat less-
favoured tablelands of Southern Rhodesia. Coptain Gibbons expressly calls the
Matoka plateau, west of the Kafue valley, " a sanatorium," and describes the up-
lands, over 4,000 feet above sea-level, as "well-watered and picturesque." In the
open glades, and along the banks of numerous streamlets, traversing the woodlands,
the soil i.s rich aud productive, the air bracing, and the temperature relatively low^
seldom rising above 95"' Fahr. in summer, or So^ in winter, while the nights are
cool throughout the year. So well watered is the whole plateau, that, even during
the dry season, go jd water, in pans or rivulets, occurs everywhere at short intervals.
The bottom-lands, which are well suited for rice culture, " yield abundant winter
pasture, as well as mealies, sorghum, cassava, gourds, melons, marrows, &c. So
far as soil, altitude, and climate are concerned, the country is capable of producing
wheat, oats, coffee, indiarubber, many kinds of fruits, rice, and other agricultural

NOETHEEN EHODESIA. . 273

produce." The only drawback are the locusts, and even that pest was swept away
by disease in 1896, so that had railway communication been established at that
time great quantities of corn might have been forwarded to the Bulawayo market,
distant not more than 400 miles from the Matoka uplands. Drought, the curse of
South Africa, is rare, and the records kept by M. Coillard, for over twenty years,
show ac. average rainfall of about 34 inches for the western parts of Northern
Rhodesia.

Farther east, that is, on the plateau soon to be traversed by the Mid-African
railway from Bulawayo to Tanganyika, the precipitation is much higher, ranging
in recent years from 35 to over 75 inches. Here, also, the Loangwa basin, occupy-
ing the heart of Northern Rhodesia, is described by Mr. Rankin as " eminently
suited to white colonisation, the altitude varying from 2,000 to 8,000 or 9,000 feet.
In many places we have native-grown flour, manufactured sugar, rice, and many
other products, including most kinds of European vegetables grown on an extensive
scale. There is an enormous quantity of fruits, such as oranges, mangoes, limes,
pineapples, and the immunity of the Europeans settled there from fever and sick-
ness bears abundant evidence to the salubrity of this great plateau." Iron and
coal exist in vast quantities, and Mr. W. R. Dunstan's analysis of the Nyassaland
coal shows it to be of " very fine quality, useful for most purposes, and remarkably
free from sulphur."

Mr. Hoste's account of the region surveyed by him in 1897 reads almost like a
revelation. Here the climate is spoken of as " delightful," with water very plen-
tiful, and " green grass all the year round." In fact, the whole district about the
Loangwa headstreams, and even lower down, " would make good farming country,
and is well adapted to stock-raising, as there is good feed, plenty of running water,
and, as far as I could see, no tsetse fly. The climate is as fine as any that I have
ever seen in Africa." In another district, qualified as " splendid," a large iron
mine was found in working order, with smelting works, supplying the surrounding
lands with the raw material for hoes and axes, which, since the restoration of
order under the Chartered Company, are in more demand than spearheads and
assegais.

Farther north, the Choma district, surveyed by Mr. Croad in 1897, still
abounds in game, and, in one place, fully six hundred elephants were seen stretch-
ing right across the plain. In this district, which is now dependent on the col-
lector resident at Rhodesia Station, on Lake Mweru, large tracts of land have
already been brought under cultivation by the natives. The level margins of the
extensive marshes between Mweru and Tanganyika might be easily tui-ned into
rice fields, yielding " a huge crop," and, even in this swampy tract whites can, with
care, live without much discomfort.

Since the suppression of the slavers, who had raided out whole districts round
about Chifambos, where Livingstone died, on May 4, 1873,* the populations are
again settling down, while immigrants from the neighbouring parts of the Congo

* As the tree at Chitambo's, marking the spot, was rapidly decaying, the section bearing the com-
memorative inscription was cut out and forwarded to England by Mr. R. Codrington in 1899.
.\FRTCA IV. t

274

SOUTH AND EAST AFBICA.

Free State are occupying the waste lands, confident in the security afibrded by the
British flag to life and property. They are even making some social progress,
and adapting themselves to civilised ways, as appears from the steadily increasing
demand for European goods, such as cotton fabrics, earthenware, even crockery
and furniture. In some districts the better classes are already fully clothed, and,
as among.st the Barotses, the women readily discard the native bark-clo>h for the
softer and brighter, if less durable European kerchiefs and coloured chintzes. The
case is mentioned of a Makanga chief who possesses " a full dinner service," and
English china is already seen in many of the houses.*

Even more surprising is the progress of the British Central Africa Protec-
torate since 1891, when this dependency was taken over by the Imperial Govern-

Fig. 78. — North End of Lii;;; Nyass*..
Scale 1 : 1,900,000.

op Gre

•,ch

35-50-

54-30-

, 30 Miles.

ment, and a Commissioner appointed under the Foreign OflSce. It occupies a
considerable strip of territory, enclosing Lake Nyassa on the west and south sides,
and comprising nearly the whole of the Shire basin and South Nyassa highlands,
where the Lower Shire, with its Ruo affluent and Lake Shirwa, forms the frontier
towards the Portuguese possessions north of the Zambese. As laid down by the
Anglo- German Delimitation Commission of June, 1898, the boundary towards
German East Africa runs from the mouth of the Songwe River on Lake Nyassa
to the entrance of the Kilambo River on Lake Tanganyika, thus nearly coinciding
• A. H. Keane, The Times, August 15, 1898.

XOETHEEN EHODESIA. 275

with the Stevenson Road. There are twelve administrative districts, with seat of
government at Zumba, which, although a smaller place than the chief town, Blan-
tj're, is more conveniently situated on the left bank of the Shire, a few miles
farther north.

The rapid change that has taken place in the political, social, and economic
relations,* especially in the Shire highlands, began with the establishment of the
central missionary station at Blantyre in 1876, followed by the foundation of the
African Lakes Company in 1878. While the missionaries were preaching and
educating, the lay pioneers were planting, and trading, and opening communica-
tions by land and water with the outer world. As the movement spread, and the
circle of civilising influences widened, it came into collision at aU points with
hostile elements of every kind — Arab and Swahili kidnappers ; their half-Moslem
Tao confederates ; Angoni-Zulu, " Makololo," and other refractory native tribes ;
lastly, aggressive Portuguese " Captains-Major " and military agents, jealous of
the intrusion of " British adventurers " in a domain which, although never hitherto
occupied by them, was still regarded as their inalienable inheritance, " by right of
four hundred years' misrule on the East Coast," as was at the time remarked.
But, in spite of everything, British interests had been developed to such an extent,
hand in hand with the claims of the native neophytes to the protection promised
them by their "father Livingstone," that the Imperial Government could no
longer refuse its intervention, as much in the cause of humanity as of the now
acquired political rights of England. Thus it came about that the dependency of
British Central Africa was constituted, and placed under the direct control of the
Foreign Office in 1891. Even before that memorable event, the colony had not
only held its own against its countless foes on the Shire uplands, along the shores
of Nyassa, and on the Tanganyika plateau away to the north, but had even entered
on a period of surprising material prosperity. When H. von Wissmann passed
through Nyassaland in 1887 he declared that the Blantyre missionary station and
the Lake Company's station at Mandala were the finest European settlements he
had seen in any part of inner Africa, and similar testimony was rendered to the
indomitable pluck, enterprising spirit, and religious zeal of the colonists by Captain
Trivier and other foreign visitors in 1889-90. Since then progress has been scarcely
interrupted by Arab invasions, Makololo and Yao risings, and constant Angoni
revolts, which latter have scarcely yet been everywhere suppressed. Missionary
and trading stations, and military posts, have been established at Zomba, Mandala,
Bandawe, Sikoma, Karonga, and many other convenient points ; the Manyanjas
and other natives have acquired some knowledge of letters and the European
mechanical industries ; the hitherto almost irreclaimable Yaos have now become
" compositors," setting up and printing the British Central Africa Gazette ; thou-
sands of children, and even adults, are regular attendants at the missionary schools ;
witch-burning has been largely replaced by fire-brick making, and a church, the
work of native hands, has been erected at Blantyre, which would not disgrace a
London thoroughfare. Coffee and other plantations are spreading along the river
banks, or creeping up the slopes of the encircling hills ; the land is policed by an

27G SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

efficient Sikh force, imported from India ; steamers ply on the Upper and Lower
Shire and Zambesc ; gunboats have swept the Arab slave dhows from the Nyassa
waters ; free labour has replaced domestic slavery ; and legitimate traffic has com-
pleted the ruin of the Zanzibari slavers and raiders ; and this marvellous trans-
formation is the work of little over two decades (I87G-99). But the budget still
shows a large deficit, as much as £40,000 in 18'J8, when the revenun scarcely
exceeded £25,000, while the expenditure amounted to £G5,000. On the other
hand, the exchanges arc rapidly increasing, the exports having advanced from
£7,000 in 1891 to £28,000 in 1898, and the imports from £33,000 to £80,000 in
the same period. Unfortunately, the climate does not appear to be so favourable
as was at first supposed. At least the mortality of European officials was as high
as 16 per cent, in 1898, and it was stated that the mortality was nearly as great in the
highlands, over 3,000 feet above the sea, as in the low-lying parts of the Protec-
torate. It is disquieting to read that hscmaturic or blaekwater fever, tlie most
dangerous of all malarial affections, appears to be indifferent to altitude, prevailing
as much on the low as on the high grounds.

All the natives of Northern Rhodesia and Nyassaland are Negroid Bantus,
speaking various dialects of the Bantu stock language. In the Protectorate the
chief nations arc the Maganyas, or Ma-Nyanjas, that is, the "Lake People," who
are the true aborigines, and occupy the southern shores of Nyassa and most of the
Shire basin ; the intruding Maviti Zulus, called also Mazitus and Mangones, but
now better known as Angoni ; the Yaos, or Ajawas, of the Shire highlands and
borderlands about the Portuguese frontier ; lastly, the so-called " Eastern
Makololos " in the triangular space between the Lower Shire and the Zambese.
Nearly all are now reduced, and even the fierce Angoni are forming settled com-
munities on the west side of the lake.

Topography of British Central Africa.

In the basin of Lake Nyassa the only European settlements are those founded
by the British planters, traders, and missionaries, by whom both the river and the
lake have been converted into a regular highway of commerce.

Karonga, lying on the north-west shore of the lake, a short distance south of
the main highway, is one of the chief centres of population in the lacustrine basin.
The transcontinental telegraph line had reached this point from Capetown in
1899. But it lies in a swampy, malarious district. The neighbouring Rikuru
valley is much more salubrious, and here lies the settlement of Mombera, chosen
by the Scotch missionaries as a health-resort. Facing it, on the cast side of
Nyassa, follow numerous villages built on piles, like those of the old lacustrine
peoples in Europe. In this part of the lake the best-sheltered port is Bampa
(Mbampa), which is well protected from the southern gales by a peninsula and some
neighbouring islets. About the middle of the west side of Nyassa lies the large
village of Bandaice, near whicli place the missionaries have foimded their chief
station. But it has no natxiral haven, although a port might easily be constructed

BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA.

277

at a small outlay. Bandawe has the advantage of being situated near the point
where the regular passage is made from one side of the lake to the other. The
native craft, starting from this place, are able to seek shelter under the lee of the
two islands of Shisimolo and Dikomo. The corresponding station on the opposite,
or east side, is the village of Chitesi, although it lies on a beach exposed to the full
fury of the surf. Lisscica is also one of the landing-places on this side.

But on the Whole periphery of the lake the most frequented port and chief
centre of trade, and tUl recently the great market for slaves, is Kota-Kota, which
lies on the west coast, over 120 miles from the southern extremity of Nyassa. It
stands on an almost landlocked bay, which, thanks to their light draught, is acces-
sible to the Arab boats. The Zanzibar traders have here settled in such numbers

Fig. 79.— Uplands between the Shiee and Nyassa.

Scale 1 : 680,000.

^stof Greenwich

55-

55-50-

30 Miles.

that Ki-SwahUi has become the dominant language in Kota-Kota. This Moham-
medan colony has the advantage of possessing some thermal springs in its vicinity ;
but the surrounding district is barren, and for a space of over 60 miles going
southwards the coastlands are entirely uninhabited.

Great expectations were originally formed respecting Livingstonia, the first
station founded on the shores of Nyassa, where were supposed to be united all the
elements of future greatness — geographical position, weU-sheltered harbour, fertile
soil. But there was one fatal drawback, a relaxing and unhealthy climate, which
compelled the missionaries to abandon all their establishments so pleasantly situated
on the peninsula here projecting into the lake and separating its southern extre-
mity into two spacious bays. When Livingstonia was visited by Kerr in 1885
nothing was to be seen except the cheerless sight of abandoned houses which lined

278 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

the streets. The missionaries, as the natives assured him, were " all dead, all gone
to Bandawee." *

In the interior of the Zambese basin the oldest and largest place, though no
longer the capital, is Blantyrc, which is situated about 90 miles to the south of
Nyassa, in a valley of the Shire uplands, whose geographical position has been fixed
with astronomic accuracy by the explorer O'Neill, aud connected with the whole
network of routes between the Zambese and Tanganyika. Blantyrl- was so named
in 1876 from the little Lanarkshire village where Livingstone was born. Thanks
to its elevation of nearly 3,400 feet above the sea, it is a relatively healthy place for
Europeans, who are here able to perform manual labour without risk. The surround-
ing district has also the great advantage of being free from the tsetse fly. The com-
munity of missionaries, its original founders, has since been reinforced by numerous
traders, officials, and planters, and Blantyre is now the largest European station in
Central Africa north of the Zambese, with a population of about 7,000 in 1899.

Notwithstanding its distance from Nyassa, BlantjTC, or rather the neighbouring
village of Maiida/a, has become the central station of the " African Lake Societj',"
a commercial association which was founded in 1878 for the purpose of aiding
the missionaries, while at the .same time trading on its own account. This society
carries on a considerable traffic in produce of all kinds as far as the Upper Congo
basin, and already possesses several factories between Quelimane and Lake Tan-
ganyika. It is satisfactory to know that by the terms of its charter it is forbidden
to supply the natives with alcoholic drinks.

At present the chief trading ports on the Shire are Port Herald and CItiromo
and in 1899 there were five naval ports between Chinde, at the mouth of the
Zambese, and Deep Bay, on the north-west coast of Nyassa.

The Portuguese in the Lowek Z.oibese.

In the region of the Zambese delta the Portuguese still hold some military and
trading stations, round which is centred the political and social life of the riverain
population.

From this base an attempt was even made a few years ago to seize the whole
of the Zambese Valley in order to connect their possessions on the Indian Ocean
with Angola on the Atlantic. In 1889, soon after the foundation of the Slozam-
bique Chartered Company, Major Serpa Pinto, at the bead of 4,000 men, invaded
and occupied the Makololo territory in the Lower Shire district. Even after a
vigorous protest on the part of Lord Salisbury, he continued to hold the country,
and to treat the whole of the Nyassa and Lower Zambese lands as Portuguese
territory. But under threat of war he was induced to withdraw, and in 1892 Portugal
signed an agreement, throwing open the Zambese to the flags of all nations. At the
same time her claim to the lower course of the river was admitted, and she con-
sequently now holds a strip of territory along both banks of the main stream, which
extends from the delta to Zumbo, and is thus wedged in between the British
possessions of Northern and Southern Rhodesia.

* The Far Interior, ii. p. 185.

MOPEA— MAZAEO.

279

Topography of the Lo^\'er Zambese.

Below the Shire confluence the Lower Zambese can scarcely be said to be
inhabited. One of the principal villages on the right bank is Shiqmnga, near
the spot where the spreading

branches of a mighty baobab
overshadow th-j lonely grave of
Livingstone's wife, one of the
victims of that fatal "Zambese
Expedition " which in 1862 cost
the lives of so many intrepid
followers of the iUustrions mis-
sionary. The tomb is stiU care-
fully looked after by the natives,
who clear away the rank growth
of weeds springing up with the
return of eveiy rainy season. Not
far from the same place repose the
remains of other explorers, who
had accompanied Owen on his
survey of the Lower Zambese.

Below Shupanga, but on the
opposite bank, stand the stations
of Mopea and Mazaro, half embow-
ered in the dense foliage of over-
hanging mango-trees. These
villages enjoy some importance as
landing-places for the riverain
traffic, and as guardians of the
portage between the Zambese and
the Kwa-Kwa, or river of Queli-
mane. Recently, a domain of
125,000 acres, stretching along
the left bank of the Lower Zam-
bese as far as the neighbourhood
of the Shire, was granted by the
Portuguese Government to an

Fig. 80. — QlTELIHANE.
Scale 1 : 200,000.

■ queUmane,-.

5g'S5-

55*58-

EE3

Depths.

Sands exposed
at low water.

0tol6

Feet.

16 to 32
Feet.

32 Feet and
upwards.

" Opium Company," in the hope

that it might compete successfully ___^^^_^_^^^_^_^_ 5 uues.

with the British growers of the

baneful drug in India. But the company was ruined in a revolt of natives in

1884, and since then opium has been replaced by sugar, about 1,000 tons of

which were exported in 1898 through the rising port of Chinde to the Lisbon

market.

280 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

Luabo, an old Portuguese town built near one of the mouths of the river, has
been gradually destroyed by the erosive action of the stream. Since its disap-
pearance the principal factories have been established about the Inhamissengo
mouth. Although Ij'ing to the north of the Zambcse delta, on an estuary which
communicates with the mainstream only through uncertain and periodical channels,
Quelimaiie is still the largest seaport of the whole basin. But its position is
threatened by the new route opened through the Chinde mouth to Lake Nyassa.
Although founded three hundred and fifty years ago, it has always remained a
small town, not only in consequence of its unhealthy climate, but also because of
the vexatious customs regulations. Before 1803 the port had not been open to
foreign trade, and its chief traffic was in slaves exported to the plantations of
Brazil. Its white population consisted for the most part of Portuguese convicts
banished from the mother country. It was from Quelimane that Lacerda started
on his memorable expedition to the interior of the continent.

Quelimane, or Sao Martinlio, as it is officially called, is known to the natives by
the name of Chuamho. Its port is of difficult access, owing to a bar at the mouth of
the estuarj^ which vessels drawing over ten or twelve feet can hardly attempt to cross
in safety. But this obstruction once passed, the inner waters ofiFer excellent anchor-
age all the way to the town, which lies some 12 miles to the north of the coa>«t,
on the left bank of the Kwa-Kwa, familiarly known as the Quelimane River. The
Kafirs constitute the bulk of the urban population, and also occupy numerous
villages in the surrounding district, where they enjoy the protection secured to
them by the little Portuguese garrison. Although generally unhealthy, the
climate of Quelimane is said to be favourable to invalids affected by chest complaints.
Unfortunately the residents have no health-resort, where they might escape from
the malarious atmosphere of the neighbouring marshes and rice-grounds.

The foreign trade of Quelimane, which is chiefly directed towards Bombay
and Lisbon, and rose from £90,000 in 1876 to £170,000 in 1808, is partly in
the hands of Banyans and Arabs. But the great development of the ex-
changes during the last few years is mainly due to the enterprise of the British
settlers about the shores of Lake Nyassa. Quelimane has supplanted the port of
Mozambique for the export trade in ivory, which is now brought down by the
steamers plying on the Zambese, whereas it was formerly conveyed overland to a
large extent by the gangs of slaves bound for the coast. As a rule, about twice
the quantity of ivory is forwarded from tke east as from the west coast of the
continent. Between the years 1879 and 1883 about 640,000 pounds were shipped
on the western and 1,270,000 on the eastern seaboard, jointly representing a money
value of £800,000 and the spoils of some 60,000 elephants. But since then tlie
supply has been much reduced, and in 1899 the price of ivory advanced from
£2 to £4 a ton in the Eviropean markets.

@ftS

E^'lggrg'

'-'^■'.-■■■jfo-r^

i"M^

CHAPTER IX.

MOZAMBIQUE.
Portuguese Possessions North of the Zambese.

HE ferritory assigned to Portugal by the late international treaties
still continues north of the Zambese as far as the valley of the
Rovuma, and extends from the seaboard inland in the direction of
Lake Nyassa. But Portuguese jurisdiction is very far from making
itself felt throughout the whole of this vast domain. Even the
influence of the officials appointed from Lisbon extends in many places little
beyond the vicinity of the coast. Till lately they possessed nothing except mere
hearsay knowledge of the lands represented on the maps as belonging to the crown
of Portugal. Even down to recent times the slave-trade was the only traffic
carried on in this region , hence the beaten tracks were jealously guarded by the
dealers in human merchandise, and these alone dared to venture into the interior,
which they described as inhabited by hordes of ferocious anthropophagists.

The station of Mozambique itself, mainstay of the Portuguese authority along
the seaboard, is situated not on the mainland but on a neighbouring island, while
the surrounding country might, before the eighties, be described as a ferra incognita
to within a short distance of the opposite coast. Like all other stations on the East
African seaboard, except Sofala, Mozambique was regarded as little more than a
port of call for vessels pljdng between Europe and India. It had never been
utilised as a starting-point for exploring expeditions in the interior, and the
Portuguese continued to occupy it for three hundred years without collecting any
information regarding the neighbouring lands and peoples that might, neverthe-
less, have easily been visited.

The journeys of Lacerda and his successor Gamitto were the first serious
geographical expeditions, and even these were directed towards the regions beyond
Nyassa. Then came Roscher, Johnson, Last, Cardozo, and especially O'Neill, by
whom the Mozambique lands have been traversed in every direction during the
latter half of the present century. Strictly speaking, this territory has become a
part of the known world mainly through the labours of O'Neill, by whom the
banks of the Shire and of Lake Nyassa have been connected with the maritime

282

SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

ports by carefully surveyed routes comprising a total length of about 4,000 miles.
It would scarcely be unfair, says an English writer, to give to this region the name
of O'Neill's Land, in honour of the explorer who first laid down ou our maps the
true features of its mountains, lacustrine basins, and rimning waters. The terri-
tory thus newly acquired by science comprised a superficial area of about 140,000
square miles, with a population in 1898 of about 1,150,000.

Relief of the Land.

The moimlain system of the interior is connected westward with the Shire
uplands and the ranges skirting the east side of Lake Nyassa. West of Mozam-

Fig. 81. — Chief Routes of Explokees East of Nyassa.
Scale 1 : 8,000,000.

120 Miles.

bique the chief eminences are the Ifamuli Mountains, an almost isolated mass
which till recently was supposed to penetrate into the region of snows, but which in
any case forms a superb group, dominating far and wade above the surrounding
plains and diverging fluvial valleys. The mean level of the land above which
it towers is itself about 2,000 feet high. But the hills are much more elevated
and precipitous on the southern slope, where the outer escarpments attain an
altitude of from 2,300 to 2,600 feet above the neighbouring plains. Here rise the
loftiest summits, among others the twin-peaked Namuli, whence the whole group
•of highlands take their name. According to the explorer. Last, the Namuli,

THE NAMULI MOUNTAINS.

283

supposed by the natives to be the cradle of the human race, has an absolute eleva-
tion of about 8,000 feet above sea-level. After storms the slopes are at times
covered with a layer of hailstones, producing the effect of a snow-clad mountain.

Towards the west, Namuli is separated from a rival peak hy a deep cleft with
almost vertical sides, several hundred yards high. In other directions it presents
less formidable approaches, although its polished rocks, on which O'Neill detects
traces of a glacial period, were everywhere found to be so precipitous that the
English explorer was unable to reach the summit. Some rivulets, which in the
rainy season become copious torrents, descend from the higher plateaux, tumbling
from cascade to cascade, and lower down developing numerous streams, which
almost everywhere disappear under the overhanging foliage. Native hamlets
straggle up to a height of 6,000 feet, mostly surrounded by verdant thickets.
Both for their wealth of vegetation and charming landscapes the Namuli moun-

Fig. 82. — Naituli Mountains.
Scale 1 : 350,000.

15-

..■■ro"

■s;

Mouect^d

•^*"

€

j,)^"^

1%:

';.„;;i„.:j,„»,

^'••^■'^P.<rs'^

East of Greenwich

57°50=

• 30 Miles.

tains are one of the most remarkable regions in the whole of Africa. The secondary
spurs rooted in the central nucleus, and graduallj- falling in the direction from
east to west down to a mere terrace skirting the low-lying strip of coastlands, are
also clothed with a rich forest growth, presenting a striking contrast with the
treeless plains at their base.

"West of the Namuli Mountains, the uplands have been partly denuded by the
erosive action of running waters. Nevertheless here also occur some groups of
lofty hills, such as the Milanji Mountains, which rise to the south-east of BlantvTe
and to the south of the Lake Shirwa depression. In the southern part of this
region the extensive plains extending in the direction of the Zambese are dotted
over with isolated eminences, such as Mounts Shiperoni and Kanga, which are
^*isible for a great distance round about. In the northern districts the heights rise
but little above the level of the plateau, or from 350 to about 1,200 or 1,300 feet,

284

SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

yet they present such steep escarpments that they are not easily scaled. The
peninsular tract enclosed between the Rovuma and its Lujenda affluent in the
extreme north is relieved only by the lateral ridges of the Nyassa coast range
from the generally monotonous and dreary aspect of the open plateau country.

River Systems.

The chief rivers traversing this plateau between the Zambese and the Rovuma

Fig. 83.— Lakes Kilwa, Chfcta and Amaeamba.
.'Scale 1 : 1,200,000.

cai;tcr'j'"eenwich

have their source either in the Namuli highlands or in the neighbouring heights.
Such is the TValaga, which, under various names, flows first in the direction of
the south-east, then southwards, falling into the Indian Ocean some distance north

LAKE NYASSA. 285

of the Zarabese delta. The Ligonya, which reaches the coast midway between
Quelimane and Mozambique, as well as the Lurio (Lu-Rio), which waters the
Lomwe territory, discharging into a bay about 120 miles north of the capital, have
also their farthest headstreams in the Namuli uplands. Numerous other less
copious watercourses rising in the advanced spurs of the same hiUy districts have
their estuaries on the seaboard between the Lui'io and Rovuma mouths.

The Rovuma (Ro-Yuma, Ru-Vuma), which forms the northern frontier line of
Mozambique, is a considerable stream whose basin comprises nearly the whole
eastern drainage of the mountains skirting the east side of Nj-assa. Its farthest
affluents even rise to the south of the lake, their united waters forming the Lienda
or Lujenda (Lu-Jenda), which for the length of its course must be regarded as the
main upper branch of the Rovuma. Before 1885 It was even supposed to have
its origin some 60 miles farther south in the Milangi hills, and that it consequently
traversed Lake Kilwa, the Shirwa of EngHsh writers, discovered by Livingstone in
1859. But this lake is now known to be an independent reservoir without anj-
present outflow, although it apparently belongs geologically to the same depress
sion as the Lujenda Valley, with which at some former period it was probably
connected.

Lake Kilwa.

The sill confining the lacustrine basin on the north varies in height from about
14 to 30 feet at the utmost. This low ridge also lies considerably more than a
mile from the northern extremity of the lake, and is clothed from one end to the
other with large timber, shovring that this tract has ceased to be flooded for a period
of at least a hundred years. Nevertheless it is quite possible that in exceptionally
wet seasons the level of Lake Kilwa may rise sufficientl}' to fill the sluggish marshy
channels at its north-west extremity, and thus effect a communication northwards
■with the sources of the Lujenda, by skirting the western extremity of the old
margin of the lake, where the ground is almost perfectly level. According to the
statements of the oldest inhabitants, such communication in point of fact frequently
took place before the present century ; but the level of Lake Kilwa has never
ceased to fall lower and lower ever since that time Hence this basin has now no
outflow, the inflow being balanced by evaporation, while its waters, formerly fresh
and potable, have now become quite saline.

In its present condition the lake has an almost perfectly rectangular form,
being about 30 miles long, with a mean breadth of 18 miles and a superficial area
approximately estimated at 720 square miles. But it is very shallow, cspecialh'
on the east side, which is fordable for a long distance from the shore. The deepest
part of the basin lies on the west side, imder the escarpments of Mount Chikala,
which rises precipitously to a height of from 2,000 to 2,600 feet above the lacus-
trine level, which itself stands nearly 2,000 feet above the sea. The two rocky
islands of Kisi and Kitongwe serve to indicate the direction of a sub-lacustrine
ridge which traverses the basin from north-east to south-west. This ridge will

28(i SOUXn ^VND EAST AFRICA.

perhaps, in course of time, rise completely above the surface, just as the northern
ridge has emerged with the continual subsidence of the waters. Shirwa is fed by
a few swamps and rivulets, and the overflow of the recently discovered little Lake
Limbi.

KUwa having ceased to communicate with the Lujenda, this great headstrcam
of the Ito\-uma now receives its first contributions from the Mtorandang* morass,
followed by another farther north. From this point the stream* which changes
its name at every station, traverses in succession the two elongated Lakes Chiuta
and Amaramba. It first takes the name of Lujenda at the outlet of the Amaraniba
basin, which is lined by pUc-built cabins serving as granaries and refuges for the
riverain populations. Here the river, flowing with a uniform and rapid current
between steep banks, enters one of the most charming and fertile valleys in the
interior of the continent. The broadening stream is divided by a chain of elevated
islands, which arc never submerged during the highest floods, and are everywhere
clothed with an exuberant vegetation of forest-trees, interlaced from branch to
branch with festoons of creeping plants. Along the banks follow in pleasant
variety grassy tracts, cultivated lands, and clumps of tall trees, while the distant
horizon is bounded by the crests of blue mountain ranges.

The Lujenda and Lower Rovuma.

Swollen by all the torrents tumbling down from the Nyassa highlands, the
Inijcnda flows without any abrupt meanderings in the direction of the north-east,
then trends northwards, plunging over a series of falls and rapids down to its
confluence with the Rovuma. This river, which rises not far from the ea.*!! side
of Nyassa, descends from the iiplands in a far more jjrecipitous channel than the
Lujenda. Above the confluence it pierces a deep gorge flanked b}' granite
walls, while the current is strewn with huge boidders as destitute of vegetation
as are the cliffs themselves that here confine the stream in its stony bed. The
wild rocky landscape is here relieved only b}' a little brushwood clothing the
fissures of the escarpments, and although lying within the equatorial zone the
riverain scener)' presents rather the aspect of a gorge in some northern region
scored by glacial striae and strewn with moraines.

At the issue of these defiles begins the region of plains and lowlands. The
confluence itself of both branches stands at an altitude of not more than 730
feet, at the foot of a hill with polished rocky slopes. Lower down, the united
stream discharges during the floods a portion of its overflow into two reservoirs
near its right bank. Lakes Lidcdi and Nagandi, which after the subsidence of
the waters flow back to the Rovuma. The level of the stream is little more
than 300 feet above the sea at the point where its winding ramifications over the
lowlands again converge in a single channel, which is pent up between the escarp-
ments of the two lateral plateaux skirting its lower course. Livingstone ascended
to a distance of nearly 180 miles from its mouth, but the trip was made in the
month of October, that is, during the season of low water, so that the boat often

m
o
z

z
o
o

->!
Q

THE MOZAMBIQUE CURRENT. 28?

grounded in mid-stream. During the periodical inundations there can be no
doubt that steamers would everjTvhere tind sufBcient depth as far as the first
cataracts.

The Eovuma, which falls into a spacious bay just north of Cape Delgado, has
no bar at its mouth ; nevertheless, small craft run some risk in penetrating from
the sea into the river, owing to the eddies caused by the conflict of the opposing
fluvial and marine currents.

The Mozambique Seaboard.

The section of the seaboard, extending for a distance of about 300 miles nearly
in a line with the meridian, from Mokambo Bay to the Rovuma estuary, presents

Fig. 84. — Mouth of the Rovotia.
Scale 1 : 650,000

Easb of Greenwich 38'io-

Depths.

Sands and reels exposed
at low water.

■J :o aa
Feet.

a remarkable contrast to the section disposed in the direction from south-west to
north-east, extending from Sofala Bay to the Zambese delta and the Mozambique
coast. Southwards the beach is everywhere low and destitute of harbours, whereas
farther north the coast is deeply indented with creeks and inlets, while ramifying
headlands, continued by islets, stretch far seawards. This striking contrast is
explained by the action of the Mozambique current, combined with that of the
coral-building polyps. The oceanic stream flows close in shore south of the
Eovuma, eating away the foot of the cliffs, striking against the rocky promontories,
and sweeping in rapid eddies round every inlet on the seaboard. The bays
are thus scoured of all their sedimentary matter, and while the current is accom-
plishing this work the coralline animalcules are building up their structures in

288

SOUTU AND EAST AFRICA.

Till

So. — Ports axd Reefs of

NOETH MoZAilBIQUE.

Pnilc 1 : 2,000,000.

deep water off the coast, although even here a ceaseless struggle is maintained
between these new formations and the waves of the sea. In one place the reefs
are carved into islands, in another the current sweeps away the less compact coral

masses, or else hollow out channels and narrow
passages through them, where ebb and flow alter-
nate with the velocity of a mill-race.

But south of lIozaiiibii[ue the 'marine current,
ceasing to follow the shore-line, sets far seawards,
the consequence being that all the inlets along the
coast are gradually choked with sand or mud.
According to the observations of sailors navigating
these waters, the stream follows its normal direction
from north to south for nineteen days in twenty,
but its course is at times checked and even arrested,
while it has been observed on some rare occasions
actually to set in the opposite direction, towards the
north.

Between Quclinianc and Mozambique the coral-
builders have erected a continuous chain of reefs
and islets, skirting the coast at a distance ranging
from 12 to 18 or 20 miles, and enclosing a broad
channel, which in many places affords good anchor-
age. Natural harbours of refuge follow in quick
succession along this marine highway within the
reef}' Primcira and Angosha (Angoxa*) islets. But
at the point where the shore -line takes the direction
from south to north, these outer roadsteads are
replaced by harbours formed by erosive action on
the coast itself. Here the port of Mokamho develops
an extensive basin where whole fleets might ride at
anchor in depths ranging from 60 to 00 feet.
Mozambique commands from its low islet a labyrinth
of inner havens, followed northwards by Conducia
Bav and the magnificent group of sheltered inlets
presented by the Fcruao Vellozo or Masasima basin.
Memba Baj', with those of Mwambi, Montepes, Ibo,
Masimbwa, and Maj'apa, not to speak of the many
excellent anchorages formed by the islets off the
coast, render this seaboard one of the most favour-
able for navigation in tbe whole world. At the
same time the barrier reefs and the swift currents striking against them require
great caution on the part of skippers frequenting these waters. Even GO miles

* The Portuprucsc .r answers exactly to the English sh, which should be substituted for it everywhere
except in strictly Portuguese words. — Ed.

■^Cgo' E ofSreenwich 40'BU-

Sands and reefs exposed at low water.
SOMUes.

CLIMATE OP MOZAMBIQUE. 289

off the coast, under the latitude of Ibo, there occurs the dangerous marine bank of
St. Lazarus, where vessels have occasionally been wrecked, although it is covered
mostly by depths of from 6 to 18 fathoms.

Climate.

On the Mozaiiibique coast the south-east trade-winds have so little force that
they are frequently deflected from their normal course by the centres of intense
radiation, developed at one time on the mainland to the west, at another on the
great island of Madagascar to the east. Moreover the broad Mozambique Channel,
which is disposed in the direction from north-east to south-west, offers to the
atmospheric currents an easy passage, which they usually follow, setting either
northwards to the equator or southwards to the Antarctic seas. The trade winds
prevail most frequently during the cooler months, that is, from April to Sep-
tember, when the vertical solar rays strike the globe north of the equator.
Nevertheless, even during this season the aerial currents are generally deflected
towards the north. They sweep round the south coast of Madagascar, and on
reaching the Mozambique Channel set steadily northwards in the direction of
Zanzibar.

But from October to March, when the sun has moved to the southern hemi-
sphere, followed by the whole system of atmospheric currents, the prevailing winds
on the Mozambique coast are those blowing from the north-east. They set
parallel with the seaboard in the same direction as the marine current itself, which
now acquires a mean velocity of from about 2 to 4 miles an hour. In these
maritime regions hurricanes are extremely rare, few instances of such atmospheric
disturbances having been recorded since the month of January, 1841, when a
terrific cyclone churned up the Mozambique waters, tearing the shipping from its
anchorage and strewing the coast with the wreckage. During the two following
years Mozambique was again visited by similar storms, and on each occasion at
the same period.

Flora and Fauna.

The moisture precipitated in the basins of the Kovuma and the other coast
streams north of the Zambese is not sufficiently copious to nourish a luxuriant
vegetation. Great forest-trees matted into an impenetrable tangled mass by
trailing or twining plants are met only on the banks of the running waters. But
although the coastlands have no large growths except on the irrigated tracts, the
thickets on the elevated terraces are none the less very difficult to traverse. Here
the brushwood and small shrubs are often so inextricably interwoven that it mioht
be possible to walk for hours without once touching the ground. Caravans that
have to force their way through this underwood move very slowly. The porters
have to cut themselves a passage beneath the overhanging branches, avoiding the
sharp points of many a projecting root, and in some places even creeping on aU

AFRICA IV. V

290 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

fours over the interwoven network of foliage and lianas. "West of these thickets
clothing the terraces near the coast, the inland plains, enjoj'ing a far less abun-
dant rainfall, support few vegetable growths beyond grasses and thorny mimosas.
Forests properly so-called occur only on the slopes of the mountains, which inter-
cept the moisture-bearing clouds rolling up from the Indian Ocean. The plants
yielding copal and caoutchouc do not thrive beyond the zone of brushwood.

On the other hand, the. Mozambique fauna is surprisingly richi The region of
the Upper Lujenda and the plains traversed by the Rovuma below the confluence
of its great tributary from the south, are hunting-grounds such as are now seldom
elsewhere seen in Austral Africa. The various species of antelopes, as well as the
gnu, buffalo, quagga, and zebra, herd together in thousands, and are preyed upon
by large numbers of lions and leopards ; hysenas are also very numerous. But
this multitude of wild animals is entirely due to the rareness or absence of man.

Inhabitants. — The Magwangwaras.

Within a comparatively recent period the Rovuma basin was still thickly
peopled ; but at present scarcely a village is met for tracts 60 miles in extent
below the Lujenda. They have almost everywhere been replaced by numerous
ruins surrounded by now abandoned banana groves. The land has been laid
waste, and now that there remains nothing more to destroy, the wild beasts have
resumed possession of their domain. The only aborigines, whose rare camping-
grounds are still met at long intervals on the plains, are the Matambwes (Ma-
Tambwe), protected by the branches of the river, which they place between them-
selves and their enemies. During the dry season they occupy the islands in the
Rovuma ; but with the return of the periodical floods, which inundate their huts
and fields, they retire to the elevated cHffs on the right bank. A few Matambwe
are also met either as guests or as slaves amongst the powerful tribes which have
given them a home or a refuge. Some groups of Manyanjas (Ma-Xyanja), timid
savages akin to the Matambwes, have a few obscure settlements in the recesses of
the region about the confluence.

The predatory tribes by whom the Mozambique lands have been wasted are
the Magwangwaras (Ma-Gwangwara, Ma-Conguara), who dwell to the north of
the Rovuma, along the north-eastern shores of Lake Nyassa, and in the region
where the Rufiji has its source. With these Magwangwaras have been associated
some other marauders, who are known, like the Zulu-Kafirs beyond Xyassa, by the
general designation of Maviti. But they are not entitled to the name, and these
pretended Maviti are really Wanindis (Wa-Nindi), who seem proud of continuing
the work of the conquerors by whom their own territory was formerly wasted
with fire and sword. They have adopted the warlike garb, the anns, usages,
tactics, and the very name of these terrible Zulus. But in their country the
traveller Porter heard of two persons only who were really of Zulu blood.

Setting out from their villages to the north of the Rovuma, they turned the

THE MATOJAS. 291

whole of the Matambwe countn' into a howling wilderness, and for many years all
the markets along the coast were furnished with hundreds and thousands of slaves
from this source. So abundant was the supply, that at that time a man fetched a
less price than a sheep or a goat. But things have greatly changed since then.
The Wanindis have withdrawn to their camping-grounds, where they have again
begun to till the land. There was nothing left to plunder when the late Sultan of
Zanzibar interfered to stop their depredations.

The Makuas.

The Makuas (Ma-Kua, Ma-Kwa) occupy a vast domain, which stretches from
Mozambique Bay westwards to the Namuli highlands and the lakes where the
Lujenda has its sources. They are divided into numerous groups, such as the
Medos and Mihavanis, nearly all hostile to each other, although closely related in
language and usages. Each tribe, however, is specially distinguished by its peculiar
stjde of headdress, and methods of tattooing the face and filing the teeth. During
the last few decades the race has been much reduced by their constant intertribal
feuds. Ruined villages, abandoned fields and gardens, are met in many places,
and considerable tracts have become soUtudes. The naturally fertile Namuli
uplands are almost iminhabited.

Amongst these tribes spirits worship is universal, and in certain villages, notably
at Mpassu, on the route between Quelimane and Blantyre, every cabin has its trophy
of offerings to the local genii. Before all the villages are piled up heaps of
presents, such as food and merchandise, which are expected to secure the favour of
tutelar deities. On the southern slope of the Namuli mountains and the banks of
the Lukugu River there is a Makua tribe, who, when visited some years ago by
Last, were still pronounced cannibals. These are the Mawas (Ma-Wa), who devour
their own dead, as well as captives in war, and still more frequently slaves and
people secretly condemned either for their magic arts or because they happen to be
corpulent, that is, in " prime condition." The victim must be kept ignorant of his
fate ; at some public feast he is made drunk with beer, and then his executioners
suddenly fall upon him and club him.

Like their Maganya and Maviha sisters, the ilakua women wear the pelele, or
lip-ornament. They consider themselves fully equal to the men, and in some
respects even take the first rank. Their right to hold property is perfectly recog-
nised ; they keep "establishments," huts, and fields, and can dispose of themselves
according to their own fancy. In case of divorce they also keep possession both
of the children and the land. Ifevertheless the wives of the chief kneel before
him, and when ordered salute him by clapping of hands. One of them is also
selected to accompany him as his swordbearer. The wives have often been buried
alive in the same grave with distinguished members of the community.

The customs, however, vary greatly from tribe to tribe, and certain practices,
such as circumcision, held to be a point of vital importance amongst most of the
natives, are left by the Makuas to the option of the individual. Each petty state

u 2

292

SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

is governed by a chief and a council of eldnrs, who arc seated for the greater part
of the day in a public hall hung with leopard skins. The Makuas are very fluent
orators, and at all the feasts, celebrated by the neighbouring peoples with music
and the dance, they hold rhetorical tournaments. Each orator is accompanied by
a second, who, like the flute-pla3'er in classic times, stands behind to regulate the
movement of the voice by his modulated utterance of harmonious syllables, filling by
his music the gaps in the flowing periods, lending more insiuuatihg softness to the
pathetic phrases, heightening the effect of the peroration by a low cadeuced

Fig. 86. — Chief Nations op MozAMBiauE.
Scale 1 : 8,000,000.

c^sh cF Greenwich

ISO Miles.

muttering, and terminating the discourse by a muffled sound which seems to die
away like a distant echo.

Thk Lomwes, Yaos, axd Mavihas.

The Lomwes, who according to O'Neill belong to the same stock as the
Makuas, dwell chiefly in the Lurio basin to the north of the Namuli highlands,
and of the mountains continuing this system eastwards. They are usually looked
on merely as an ordinary Makua tribe, although they are clearly distinguished by
their peculiar idiom, and also regard themselves as a separate people. Before
their territory was explored, the Lomwes had the reputation of being a most
formidable nation. All strangers were supposed to require a special invitation

THE LOMWTES A^^) YAOS.

293

from the council of chiefs before daring to enter their territorj% as to do so ■with-
out this precaution was considered certain death. The depopulated borderland?
on their frontiers were also stated to be carefully guarded by elephant-hunters,
instructed to kiU all intruders of other races or tribes. But all this was idle
popular report. The Lomwes are, on the contrary, now known to be a peace,
loving and even timid people, who are harassed by their Makua neighbours.

Fig. 87. — Landscape in Lcje2jda.

They were even threatened with rapid extinction before tranquillity was restored
to this distracted land under the influence of the European traders and mission-
aries.

For intelligence and industry the Yaos (Wa-Hiyao), called also Ajawaa, cer-
tainly take the foremost rank among aU the Mozambique populations. The upper
Lujenda Valley forms the chief domain of these aborigines, who were formerly a
powerful nation, but who, like their neighbours, have suffered greatly from the

294 SOUTU AND EAST AFRICA.

incursions of the Ma%'iti and otiier plundering hordes bearing this name. The
Yaos are also met more or less intermingled with other tribes along the banks of
Nyassa and the Rovuma, and wherever they have penetrated they have almost
invariably acquired the political preponderance.

They neither disfigure their features by tattooing, nor do their women wear
the repulsive pelele. Of cleanly habits both in their dress and dwellings, they
readily adapt themselves to foreign ways, and are specially disthiguished by their
enterprising spirit, so much so that they might be called the Vuangamezi of
Mozambique. The Yaos are also excellent husbandmen, and those of the Lujenda
Valley have converted the whole land into a vast garden, where groundnuts,
sweet potatoes, pumpkins, haricots, and here and there a little rice are cultivated,
jointly with maize and sorgho, the cereals serving as the staple of food. In the
upland valleys draining to the Rovuma, they have founded settlements on the
crests of the steep hills, where thej' defy the attacks of the Magwangwara raiders.
The ujjper slopes of these natural strongholds are for the most part covered with
huts. Johnson estimates the number of cabins grouped in the large settlement of
TJnyanyo at certainly not less than nine thousand. The summits of the mountains
swarm with children, who climb the terraces and spring from crag to crag with the
agility of monkeys. Chiiragnlit, another rocky citadel, is almost as populous as
Unyango.

The Yaos are frequently visited by the Arab traders, but they have not
accepted the Moslem faith, and still remain pagans. Sanguinarj' funeral rites
and banquets of human flesh are even still kept up hy the chiefs, although for the
most part secretly. Young women and slaves are buried alive in the graves of
the great chiefs, but it is said that should an intended victim have the good luck
to sneeze during the funeral procession he is at once liberated, the spirit of the
departed having in this way expressed his unwillingness to be attended in the
other world by such persons.

Till recently the Yaos displayed great enterprise and activity, especially as
slave-dealers. They acted as a sort of middlemen in forwarding nearly all the
convoys of captives to Kiloa and the other ports along the coast. Nor has this
traffic been yet completely suppressed. Thomson estimated at about two thousand
the number of slaves annually sold by the Yaos in the coast towns. Probably in
no other part of Africa are the effects of the slave-trade seen under a more hideous
aspect than in the Rovuma basin, where cultivated tracts have been abandoned,
villages burnt, and whole communities dispersed or carried into bondage. At the
beginning of the present century slaves were annually exported from this district
to the nimiber of from four to five thousand, and when the traffic was aboHshcd by
Portugal, the Mozambique slave-hunters and dealers were powerful enough to
incite an insurrection against the Government.

Thanks to the inaccessible nature of their territory, the Mavihas or Mahibas
(Ma-Viha, Ma-Hiba), were able to escape from the attacks of the raiders. But
although their villages, situated in the clearings of the coastlands, were strongly
palisaded, and moreover protected by their almost impenetrable thickets, their

MOZAMBIQUE ISLAND. 295

immunity was purchased at the cost of keeping far from the highways of com-
merce, and excluding the Arab traders from all their settlements. Now, however,
the buyers of copal and caoutchouc have gained access to their hitherto secluded
retreats, and they have thus been gradually drawn within the sphere of commercial
activity centred in the Portuguese seaports.

The Mavihas are remarkable for their sjTnmetrical figures and gracefiJ car-
riage, but they disfigure themselves by incisions, while not only the women but
even the men wear the pelele in the upper lip, giving to the mouth somewhat the
appearance of a nozzle. This lip-ring is prepared by the husband himself for his
wife, and the ornament thus becomes a symbol of love and fidehty, like the
wedding-ring worn by married people in civilised countries. When the wife dies
the husband religiously preserves her pelele, never forgetting to bring it with
him when he visits her grave and pours libations to her memory.

O'Neill is of opinion that the Mavihas belong to the same race as the Makondes,
who dweU to the north of the Eoviuna. They have the same customs, and the
people of the coast apply the same collective name to both groups. As amongst
the Makondes, the Maviha women enjoy the privilege of choosing their husbands.

Topography.

The seaports where European and Asiatic dealers have settled for the purpose
of trading with the natives of the interior are not numerous on the Mozambique
coast ; nor have any of them acquired the proportions of a large city. They are,
however, supplemented by the missionary stations founded in the regions remote
from the seaboard, for these stations have become so many little Eiu-opean colonies,
where the indigenous popidations are brought into contact with a new and superior
civilisation.

North-west of Quelimane, the first frequented port is that of Angosfta, formerly
a busy centre of the slave-trade. But the point selected for connecting the
submarine cable and for the regidar mail service is the famous island of Mozam-
bique, which was occupied by the Portuguese at the beginning of the sixteenth
century, and a hundred years later made the capital of all their East African
possessions. This island was already a great Arab market, trading with the East
Indies, when Vasco de Gama discovered it in 1498. The Portuguese had merely
to fortify the place in order to secure a station of vital importance on the highway
between Lisbon and Goa.

Mozambique Island, a coralline rock about two miles long and a few hundred
yards broad, partly closes the entrance of the spacious Mossoril Bay, a perfectly
sheltered haven from 25 to 60 feet deep, where vessels frequenting these waters
find a safe anchorage during the prevalence of the south-east monsoons. But on
the east side of the island there is also developed another haven well protected
from the surf by some coral reefs, low islands, and Cape Cabeceira, a prominent
headland Ijing to the north-east of Mozambique, and connected with the mainland
by a wooded peninsula. The town, where no traces are any longer seen of the

206

SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

Arab occupation, has some regular buildings in the Portuguese style, protected by
the guns of Fort Saint Sebastian, at the northern extremity of the island. The
huts of the " black town " are grouped in the southern part of Mozambique, near
Fort Saint Lawrence.

On this arid islet the rainwater is carefully hu.sbanded and sold at a high

Fig. 88. — Mozambique and its Pobts.
Scale t : 400.non

Eastot Gr

vic>i ■40*55

10'ST

Sands exposed at
low water.

0 to 16
Feet.

Depths.

Ifi to 32
Feet.

32 to 3.200
Feet.

3,200 Feet and
upwards .

6 MUes.

price to passirg vessels. Till recently reduced to a state of decay owing to tlie falling
off of its trade, this Portuguese town has again recovered some of its former
importance, especially since the suppression of the Arab and Yao slave- hunters
in British Central Africa. The movement of exchanges now exceeds £220,000
yearly, the staples of the export trade being gums and ivory. Caoutchouc first

MOZAiklBIQUE ISLAND. 297

began to be shipped at ilozambique in 1873, and in six years the value of this
article alone was about £50,000. But it then fell off almost more rapidly than it
had increased, whole forests having been destroyed to supply the demand. In the
same way the ivory trade has ceased with the almost total disappearance of the
elephant from the whole region east of Nyassa. The foreign commerce, which is
made almost exclusively with England and France, is in the hands of a few
hundred white-j, Portuguese of Goa, half-castes, and Banyans. As at Ibo and
Queliinane, woven fabrics are imported almost entirely by the Bombay merchants.

The bulk of the population consists of Mohammedan blacks, who are descended
from various coast tribes, but who have abandoned their national customs and
distinctive characteristics, and become gradually transformed to a proletariate
class, such as is met in all European seaports. The current language amongst
them is an extremely corrupt form of the Makua, one of the idioms of East Africa
that has been most carefully studied by the missionaries. Mozambique, which in
1898 had a population of over twelve thousand, is one of the few places on the
East African seaboard which possesses " learned societies," amongst others a
geographical society. Here are also published some books and journals. On one
of the neighbouring beaches is collected some salt, which people connected with
this industry compare with that of Setubal, the best in Europe.

Natural dependencies of Mozambique are the so-called Terras Firmas, that is
to say, the villages and settlements of the mainland situated on the shores of the
bay. Amongst these is Mossoril, where the governor and European traders have
their country seats, scattered with other houses to a distance of 6 miles to the
north-west of the town towards the neck of the Cabeceira Peninsula, which pro-
jects between Mossoril and Conducia Bays. The magnificent natural harbours of
Mocambo to the south and Conducia to the north of Mozambique, lie completely
idle, owing to the sparse population on the surrounding coastlands, and the absence
of routes leading to the inland regions.

Even the group of splendid harbours lying to the north of Conducia Bay in the
Gulf of Fernao YeUozo (Yeloso), is, if not entirely neglected, at aU events very
little utilised by sea-going vessels. But the natives are well acquainted with its
value, for they have given it the name of JIasasima, that is to say " Perfect shelter."
It penetrates some six miles into the interior of the land, and at its upper end
branches off into two very deep inner havens protected from aU winds. The
north-western port, called Nihegelie by the natives, and Be/more Harbour by the
English, has over 65 feet at the sill near the entrance. Nkala also, that is, the
corresponding south-western basin, although shallower than the passage through
which it communicates with the sea, is nevertheless deep and spacious enough to
afford accommodation for whole fleets. The east side of this magnificent basin,
which ramifies into several secondary inlets, is skirted by cliffs and headlands
from 100 to 200 feet high, and this district appears to be sufficiently salubrious to
supply favourable sites for European colonisation.

Several little watercourses fall into the basin on the west side, which i»
low and covered with a rich alluvial soU, where, with a little labotir, heavy crops

298

SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

of rice, lobacco and sugar, might be raised. This region, which in 1870 web
inhabited, is now comijletely deserted, the native populations having taken refuge
in the INIwamhakoma peninsula IWng to the north-east, in order to escape from
the oppression of a neighbouring Makua chief.

North of the Portuguese capital the nearest frequented harbour on this coast is

Fig. 89. — Posts op Feenao Vellozo.

Pcnie i : 240,000.

Depths.

Oto 32

Feet.

32 Feet
and upwards.

. 3 Miles.

that of Ibo or Uibo, which is full}- 180 miles distant from Mozambique. The
island on which is situated the town, capital of the coast district of Cabo Delgado,
is larger than that of Mozambique, and at low water is connected southwards with
another islet called Querimba. But the harbour, although perfectly sheltered, is

ADMINISTRATION OF MOZAMBIQUE. 299

inuch isballower than either of the Mozambique havens. In the year 1754 the
Portuguese, who had already been long established at Querimba, occupied the
island of Ibo, which could be much more easily fortified against the attacks of
corsairs. But trade and population have made little progress in these waters,
where the coral banks off the coast are barren reefs, while a regular traffic could
scarcely be developed with the neighbouring ilabiha (Ma-Biha) territory', sparsely
peoijled by a lew wild tribes. Speculators have often engaged native coolies on
the Ibo coast for the plantations on the French island of Nossi-be. The total
annual trade of this port averages little over £30,000.

Amongst the numerous islands which follow northwards as far as Cape Delgado,
several, such as Matemo, have small groups of civilised communities, while some of
the villages on the neighbouring coastlands are also under the direct jurisdiction
of Portuguese officials. Such is Masimbica {Mucimha), situated on the bay of like
name about 60 miles south of the Rovuma estuary. In the j-ear 1886 the Portu-
guese also vindicated by force of arms their claim to the possession of Titnge Bay,
an inlet on the coast contiguous to Cape Delgado. This place had already been ceded
to them bv pre^•ious treaties, as well as by the convention concluded with Germany
in 1886 But an attempt was made to dispute their right by the late Sultan of
Zanzibar, who based his claims on the nationality of the Arab traders by whom
the district was administered, and on the geographical explorations undertaken by
his command in the interior of the country. The question has now been settled
by the Portuguese gunboats in favour of the European power.

But if Portugal has thus become mistress of the whole seaboard, she is still
represented in this region by a mere handful of her European subjects. In 1857
a batch of emigrants was sent direct from Portugal to form permanent settlements
on the shores of Pemba or Mwambi Bay, south of Ibo, one of the best harbours on
the coast. They received free grants of land, cattle, rations, and arms ; but on the
other hand they were subjected to a rigorous administration, including personal
supervision and the regular observance of public worship. The result was that
despite the relatively salubrious climate of the district, the colony made no head,
but rapidly fell into utter decay.

On the mainland over against Ibo stands the village of Kisanga, a small port
on Montepes Bay, where the Mtepwesi (ilontepes) River reaches the coast.

Admixistration of Mozambique.

Being formerly considered as a simple port of» call on the route to India,
Mozambique depended administratively from Goa to the middle of the eighteenth
century ; but since the year 1752 it has been governed directly from Portugal.
Like the province of Angola on the west coast, it was till 1896 under a governor-
general assisted by a council of high functionaries. A provincial council had also
been instituted for the purpose of examining and sanctioning the local budgets
and generally superintending all affairs of secondary importance. Special commit-

300 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

tees took charge of the finances, public works, and sanitary matters. The
province, which is now administered by the Nyassa Royal Chartered Company,
elects two deputies, who have seats in the Lisbon Cortes.

The Mozambique budget, which formerly showed a heavy yearly deficit,
amounting in 1886 to £51,000, had a balance to credit of £50,000 in 1899. The
revenue is derived chiefly from the customs and a poll-tall of seven shillings levied
on every head of native families. Public instruction is but slightly developed in
the province, the few schools for both sexes showing a total attendance of less
than four hundred pupils.

The bishopric of Mozambique, which is still subordinate to the archiepiscopal
see of Goa, enjoys scarcely any ecclesiastical jurisdiction except over the Portu-
guese and men of colour connected with the trading establishments. None of the
numerous tribes of the interior have yet accepted the Roman Catholic form of
Christianity, although a first Jesuit mission was sent from Goa so early as 15G0 to
the "Monomotapa" empire for the purpose of "enlightening" the unbelievers,
" as black of soul as of body ; " and although subsequently all the military expedi-
tions were accompanied by missionaries who were charged "to reduce the indigenous
populations by their teachings as the military reduced them by the sword," the
wranglings of the Jesuits and Dominican friars, the spiritual administration of
priests banished from the home country for civil crimes or for simony, and above
all, the traffic in slaves, both pagan and Christian, resulted in the disappearance of
most of the parishes founded at any distance from the settlements on the coast.
The churches crumbled to ruins, and in many places these melancholy remains of
misapplied zeal are still seen, surrounded by the superstitious respect or awe of the
aborigines.

Even so recently as 1862 the slave-trade was still actively carried on between
Mozambique and Cuba ; but in that year the traific was abolished in the Spanish West
Indies, and in 1878 legal slavery finally disappeared in the Portuguese colonies.

In 1891 the whole of the Portuguese possessions on the east coast, formerly
comprised imder the designation of Mozambique, were diAnded into two pro-
vinces— Mozambique and Loureuio Marques — which were ofiicially named the
" State of East Africa," and placed under a Royal Commissioner, residing alter-
nately in the respective capitals, Mozambique and Lourenco Marques. But since
then the colony has been again divided into three provinces — Mozambique in the
north, Zambezia in the centre, and Delagoa Bay in the south. At present the
two former are practically administered by the Nyassa and the Mozambique
Chartered Companies respectively.

CHAPTER X.

German East Africa and Zanzibar.

jHE region of coastlands stretching north of the Rovuma as far as
and beyond Mombasa belonged, like the Mozambique coast, at one
time to Portugal, whose power or influence, thanks to its wide-
spread commercial relations, extended in many places for some
distance into the interior. But towards the close of the seventeenth
century the revolts of the natives, coinciding with the attacks of the Arabs,
compelled the whites to abandon their fortresses, and then the whole of the sea-
board facing Zanzibar and the neighbouring islands fell into the possession of the
Sultan of Muscat. For about a hundred and fifty years this potentate maintained
his authority as "King of the Sea" from the Persian Gulf to Cape Delgado.
Then in 1856 the empire was divided, the East African coast for a space of about
nine hundred miles falling to the share of a son of the Muscat sovereign, whose
dynasty, under the guidance and almost the protectorate of Great Britain, acquired
considerable power on this seaboard. The name of the Sultan of Zanzibar was
respected throughout the whole of East Africa as far inland as Lake Tanganyika
and the Upper Congo basin, and it was mainly through his support and influence
that travellers were in recent times enabled to bring to a successful issue the
numerous exploring expeditions undertaken by them in the regions of the interior
stretching west of his dominions. But he stood in the way of the German policy
of colonial expansion, and after losing aU his continental possessions, was glad to
accept the protection of England in 1890 to save the dynasty from extinction.

The German Annexations.

In 1884 the Ma-Duchi, as the Germans are called by the natives, first began
to move beyond their original trading stations for the purpose of securing territorj'
on the east coast of Africa, and in the course of foiu- years their domain had
already acquired a great development. In the section of the continent facing
Zanzibar, between the two rivers Kingani and Rufu, it comprised a space of about

802

SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

22,000 square miles. But this was the mere nucleus of the vast colonial empire
which Germany reserved to herself the right of graduallj' extending as far as
Tanganyita, source of the Congo, and to Victoria Nyanza, source of the Nile.
In taking possession of these lands the German traders, sure of the support of
their Government, proceeded with rare boldness and foresight. Disguised as poor
emigrants they landed at Saadani, without betraying their true character, and
within seven days they had executed their first treaty of annexation, which was
soon followed by several others. Hastening to take their stand on accomplished
facts, they obtained from the Berlin Government a " letter of protection," and
then an Imperial charter, armed with which documents they felt confident that

Fig. 90.— Chief Routes of Explorees Noeth op the Rovuma.

Sraie 1 : 9 noo.oon.

East of G'"eenwich

—

180 Miles.

their interests would henceforth be safeguarded against those both of Great
Britain and the Sultan of Zanzibar.

A German fleet then made its appearance before the royal residence, and under
the muzzles of the guns the Sultan was fain to recognise that his suzerainty had
ceased for ever. He even siirrendered the two chief ports that still remained to
him on this coast, thus handing over to the agents of the German customs the
keys of his treasury. In 1886 a special convention signed with England recog-
nised not only the annexations already made by the Germans, but also those
which they intended to acquire in the near future. The respective " zones of
influence" which England and Germany proposed to incorporate in their colonial
empires as soon as their first acquisitions were consolidated, are henceforth limited

ZANZIBAR. 303

by a conventional line running south-eastwards from Kavirondoland on the east
side of Victoria Nyanza to the Indian Ocean. This line passes to the north of the
snowy Kilimanjaro, while on the south the German domain is bounded by the
Rovuma.

The 1886 Convention was followed by the Anglo-German treaty of 1890, and
by sundry agreements with Portugal and the Congo Free State, in virtue of which
German East AMca now constitutes a well-defined and compact region with a
coast-line of about 620 miles between the Umbe and Eovuma estuaries, an area of
384,000 square miles, and a population of Negroid Bantus, with some Indian
(Banyan) and Arab communities on the seaboard, approximately estimated in 1899
at about 4,000,000. West of Victoria Nyanza, which is enclosed on three sides
within this domain, the boundary towards British East Africa nearly coincides
with the parallel of 1° S. lat. as far as the Congo State, but is so drawn as to leave
Mount Mfurabiro to England, thus compensating her for the loss of Mount
Kilimanjaro on the east side of the lake. Farther south Tanganyika forms the
western frontier towards the Congo State, beyond which the Stevenson Road and
the Rovuma complete the frontiers towards British Central Africa and Mozambique.
The importance of these international delimitations, in view of the future com-
mercial and industrial development of the interior, lies in the fact that the British
northern and southern domains are separated by extensive intervening tracts
assigned to Germany on the east and to the Congo State on the west side of
Tanganyika. "Whatever route be followed, the central sections of the Cape-to-
Cairo railway and telegraph lines must consequently pass through foreign territory,
unless the difHculty be overcome by exchanges and comijensations elsewhere. On
the seaboard a narrow strip of territory which had been retained by the Sultan of
Zanzibar, and then leased to the Germans for fifty years from 1888, was surrendered
to the Imperial Government in 1890 for the sum of £200,000.

At first the management of the new colony was entrusted to the German
East African Company, which was invested with extensive privileges, and aided by
subventions. But owing to the inexperience and, in some cases, to the truculence
and crueltj- of the ofiicials, the experiment proved a disastrous failure, and in 1890
the Company was induced to surrender all its sovereign rights to the Imperial
Government. Meanwhile great activity has been displayed in various directions.
Pioneer scientific expeditions have suryeyed most of the land, and penetrated
beyond the great lakes into Karague and the other regions bordering on Congoland
and British territory north and south of Tanganyika. Numerous strategical and
commercial stations have been founded at Tabora, in Karague, in the Kingani,
Wami, Ruf u, and other river valleys, and extensive tracts have been cleared round
these rallying points and on the coastlands, where the planters are already raising
heavy crops of coffee, cotton, tobacco, and vanilla. Protestant and Catholic German
missionaries have also established themselves in these new settlements, where
churches and schools have been opened. The slave caravans, with the old primitive
systems of barter trade, have disappeared ; and the famous historical route between
Bagamoyo and Tanganyika, has become the main artery whence civilising influences
radiate in all directions.

804 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

Physical Features.

The Rufiji (Ru-Fiji ), Rufu (Ru-Fu), and Wami Rivers, which water the region
of coastlands till recently known by the general name of the Zanzibar coast, from
the neighbouring island of Zanzibar, are characterised by basins whose natural limits
are in many places somewhat undecided. On the south-west the lofty chain of the
Livingstone Mountains separates the farthest sources of the Rufiji fr6m the torrents
rushing impetuousty down to Lake Js^j^assa. This watershed is continued north-
wards by other ranges, the Yomatema heights and plateaux, all of which fall
continuall}- in this direction. Hence in the Ugogo territory crossed by the caravan
routes, the transition is very gradual between the headstreams of the Malagazi,
flowing to the Congo basin, and those running east to the Indian Ocean. ITere the
divide is formed by an extensive tableland standing at a mean altitude of from ;3,500
to 4,000 feet, and in the most elevated parts rising to 4,300 feet. Ilere and there the
uniform surface is broken by a few granite crests cropping out through the pre-
vailing sandstone and reddish laterite formations. Northwards the horizon is
limited by the fable mountains which are inhabited by the Wahuma people, and
which from a distance appear to rise a few hundred yards above the level of the
plateaux.

The mountain ranges, properly so called, are developed entirely within the basins
of the rivers flo\ving seawards, between the dividing tablelands and the seaboard.
To these ranges Burton has given the name of the "African Ghats," comparing
their outlines to those of the Indian Ghats which form the outer escarpments of
the Deccan. But unlike the Indian Ghats, these Usagara ranges are not merely
the outer escarpment of an elevated plateau, but, although to a less degree, present
also the aspect of true mountains on their inner or landward slopes, rising on this
side in steep scarps above the tableland on which they stand. Connected with the
Livingstone range by a slightly inclined plateau, which is carved into terraces by
the Rufiji headstreams, and which rises in some of its crests to altitudes of nearly
6,600 feet, the Usagara system ramifies into two parallel main chains running
south-west and north-east, in the same direction as the seaboard north of Zanzibar.
Nevertheless these chains present great irregularities in their general outlines. In
many places they throw off transverse spurs, and amid the chaos of crests every-
where bounding the horizon it is often impossible to follow the main axis of the
system. The Rubeho hills, which here form the waterparting between the Rufiji
and the Wami basins, present on the whole the aspect of a ridge disposed in the
direction from north-west to south-east. In the southern or Rufiji basin occur
some coalfields, whose economic value has been differently estimated by explorers.

The Usagara (U-Sagara) Mountains are mainly of granite formation, interspersed
however with diorites and other eruptive rocks, as well as with schists and sand-
stones. The highest crests exceed 6,500 feet, and the Rubeho Pass, crossed by
Burton and Speke in 1858, would appear to stand at an elevation of 5,700 feet.
These pioneers gave it the name of the " Terrible Pass," owing to the rugged
character of the escarpments and the wild disorder of the boulders which, exhausted

THE EUFIJI EIVEE. 305

as they were from fever, they found so difficult to surmount. But however savage
in appearance, these uplands are at least favoured with a salubrious climate, and
the Europeans enervated by a residence on the marshy plains of the seaboard might
here establish health-resorts to recover their strength in an atmosphere resembling
that of the temperate zone. Most of the Usagara ^^illages are built above the river
valleys on the advanced spurs of the main ranges.

RrvEK Systems.

A few inconsiderable watercourses reach the coast north of the Rovuma
estuary ; but the first large fluvial delta is that of the Rufiji or Lufiji, which lies
180 miles beyond that point. This river does not flow from Lake Nyassa, as was
reported to Livingstone by the natives ; nevertheless its farthest headstreams have
their sources to the west of this lacustrine basin, and its ramifying affluents drain
a vast extent of land on both sides of the ranges skirting the plateau. The whole
area of drainage comprises an area roughly estimated at 6,000 square miles, and
the Luwego, or Luvu (Lu-TTego, Lu-Vu), the chief southern tributary, has already
been surveyed to its source. It is not navigable, and probably has its source ia the
Livingstone Mountains, flowing thence in a north-westerly direction to its junction
with the Uranga (U-Ranga). This branch comes from the west, plunging from
fall to fall in a rocky bed flanked by granite walls. But hundreds of canoes
formed of single trunks of trees are met in the navigable reaches, which during
the rainy season sometimes expand to a breadth of over 2,000 yards.

The iinited Luwego and Uranga take the name of Rufiji, which a few hundred
yards below the confluence timibles over the Shuguli Cascades, a series of falls and
rapids skirted by granite cliffs. Above these cataracts some rocky islets in both
converging branches serve as refuges for the natives exposed to the sudden
attacks of marauders. Lower down the Rufiji continues the north-easterly course
of the southern or Luwego branch, and offers at intervals a few navigable reaches,
although in many places the canoes of the natives are arrested by rapids, reefs,
and sandbanks. These obstructions grow more numerous as the mainstream
approaches the confluence of the Ruaha (Rua-Ha), a large stream from the west,
whose basin comprises a large tract of country between Urori and TTgogo. Like
the Luwego, the Luaha is unnavigable, notwithstanding the large volume of
water it rolls down during the rainy season, when it becomes the largest branch
of the whole system. But during the period of drought it is a less copious stream
than the Rufiji.

After its confluence with the Ruaha, the Rufiji receives no fiirther contri-
butions from any quarter ; but before reaching the sea it has still to surmount the
barrier presented by the most advanced ridge of the coast ranges. This ridge
nms north and south athwart the course of the river, which pierces it at the
gorge where it rushes over the Pangani Falls. No accurate measurement has
yet been taken of the total incline at this point, but it must be very considerable,

AFRIC.4 IV. X

308

SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

as is evident from the relief of the hills, which is much greater on the eastern or
outer than on the inner side.

In the Mrima, or coast region below the Pangani Falls, the Rufiji is navigable
for the rest of its course seawards, a distance altogether of about 120 miles. But

Fig. 91. — Thb Rufiji Delta.

Scale 1 : 660,000.

CashoF Breen

39* 50-

Depths.

Sands and ree£B 0 to 16

exposed at low water. Feet.

16 to S&

Feet.

32 Feet and
upw.irds.

12 Miles.

oreat care and skill are required to avoid the sand or mudbanks, which are formed
or shifted with every recurring inundation. In this part of its course the river
has even excavated a new channel, which winds to the south of a now abandoned
branch. Lower down, in the delta proper, these branches are constantly being

T.AKK EIEWA. 307

displaced. The alluvial deposits, incessantly disturbed by tbe current, presents
every year a fresh system of ramifying channels, while seawards the outlines of
the coast are continually modified by the ceaseless action of the coral-building
polyps.

In proportion to the size of its basin, the Rufiji delta is very extensive,
developing a coastUne about 54 miles long and covering a total superficial area of
no less than 600 square miles. It is intersected by about a dozen so-called mtos,
or estuaries, some of which are not in constant commimication with the fluvial
system, although connected with it for the greater part of the year, when the
sweet and saline waters are intermingled in their channels. The largest volumes
of the fluvial current are discharged through the northern branches, the Bumba
or Msala, the Kiomboni, Simba-Uranga, and Kibunya, and these are consequently
the most accessible to shippiug, which is able to ascend them at high water.
The Simba-Uranga mouth especially is much frequented by coasters, which come
to load timber on the banks of the river. All the channels in the neighbourhood
of the sea are fringed by dense mangrove thickets, and here the few habitations of
the natives are raised on piles simk in the mud. Higher up, where the soil is
less saturated with moisture, no more trees are seen, and the ground is covered
with tall grasses, yielding where cultivated rich crops of rice.

Compared with the Rufiji, the other streams discharging into the Zanzibar
waters are of inconsiderable size. The Kingani, which Holmwood ascended for a
distance of 120 miles from its mouth, is also known as the Mto, Mbazi, or Rufu
(Ru-Fu), names which have all the same meaning of " river." It has its source
in the valleys of the east«rn slope east of the Usagara uplands. The "Wami,
which also reaches the coast opposite the island of Zanzibar, but a little farther
north, collects its first waters much farther west iu the hills sku-ting the plateau.

Lake Rikwa.

But the space comprised between the basins of these rivers and those flowing
to Tanganyika is dotted over with shallow flooded depressions without any out-
flow. The largest of these reservoirs, l^^'ing west of the heights where the main
branches of the Rufigi have their origin, is Lake Rikwa (Likwa, Hikwa), which
was discovered by Thomson in 1880, and has since been visited by several explorers.
Seen from the summit of the Liamba Mountains enclosing it on the north-
west, and separating it from Tanganyika, Rikwa appears to fill a regular valley
disposed north-east and south-west parallel with the axis of Tanganyika and Nyassa,
and forming part of the same lacustrine system in the continental relief. It
stands at an estimated altitude of nearlj' 2,600 feet, that is to say, about 100 feet
above the level of Tanganyika, and has a probable length of about GO miles, with
a breadth varj-ing from 15 to 20 miles. Rikwa receives several afiluents at both
extremities, including even a considerable stream, the Katuma or Mkafu, which
takes its rise north of Karema, in the mountains skirting the great lake. But all
these contributions of fresh water, being carried o£E by the evaporation of the

308 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

basin, cannot prevent the formation of a residuum of saline substances in this
lacustrine reservoir, whose waters, according to native report, have a flavour of
sulphur.

Climate.

To the TJsagara Mountains, rising between the plateau and the seaboard, are
mainly due the contrasts of climate, and consequently of all the phenomena
depending on it, including those of the running or stagnant waters. In this
region of East Africa the mean direction of the winds is normal with the coast.
Whether the south-east trades are in the ascendant, as is the case during the
greater part of the year, or whether they are succeeded by those of the north-east,
as in the month of January, when the whole atmospheric system is shifted south-
wards with the course of the sun, or whether the aerial currents are attracted to
the interior of the continent, these currents always set in the direction of the
coast. The rain-bearing clouds are thus arrested by the mountain ranges of the
interior. For the same reason the alternating daily breezes are felt only on the
maritime slope. Hence the opposite side facing landwards, as well as the inland
plateaux sheltered from the prevailing easterly winds, are much farther removed
from marine influences than might be supposed from their proximity to the Indian
Ocean.

The massika, that is to say, the rainy season, during which the people remain
" confined to their houses," generally begins on the coastlands in Januar)', when
the east winds are displaced by the north-east monsoon. But the heavy down-
pours scarcely set in before March or April. After the month of May they fall
off, returning again in the vuli season, which lasts from the middle of October to
the end of the j'ear. September is the driest month, although even then occasional
showers occur. In certain inland valleys opening in the direction of the moisture-
charged winds, it rains throughout the whole year, except perhaps for a fortnight
or so in September. Here the massika makes its appearance much sooner than on
the coast, and the mountains are frequently wrapped in dense fog. The total
rainfall certainly exceeds 120 inches on the seaward slope of the Usagara uplands.
The same contrast that is observed towards the southern extremity of the con-
tinent between the Atlantic and Indian Ocean seaboards, is also maintained in
these tropical regions Ij'ing between the tenth and sixth degrees of south latitude.
At equal distances from the equator both the rainfall and the temperature are
higher on the east than on the west coast. According to Hann, the difference of
temperature under the tenth degree of south latitude, that is about the Rovuma and
Cuanza estuaries respectively, is as much as eight degrees Fahrenheit, a contrast
which must be attributed to the direction of the marine and aerial currents on the
two coasts. The monsoons on the Atlantic side blow almost constantly from the
south, and are consequently tempered bj' the cold Antarctic waters. But on the
opposite side of the continent the prevailing winds come from the east, that is by
an oceanic basin heated by the vertical solar rays.* The contrast is even greater
• Temperature of the west coast of Africa, 72° F. ; temperature of the east coast of Africa, 80° F.

FLOEA OF USAGAB.A. 309

between the respective marine currents. A stream of cold water sets steadily in
the direction from south to north along the Atlantic seaboard, while a flood of
tepid water, escaping from the great central basin of the Indian Ocean, bathes the
eastern shores of the continent, flowing southwards through the Mozambique
Channel.

The hilly plateaux Inng to the leeward of the Usagara highlands are mainly
an arid region like the Karroos of Cape Colony. In many districts there is almost
a total absence of water, so that the natives are obliged to sink deep wells in the
gravel in order to collect the little moisture that oozes through the subsoil. In
these districts the vuli season passes without bringing anj' regular heavy rains,
while the massika is occasionally interrupted by a period of dry winds, sure
forerunner of famine. The same atmospheric currents that bring the rain-
charged clouds to the maritime slopes often deprive the plateau of the necessary
moisture. To the dryness of the air are added the sultry heat of the day and
cool nights. Whirlwinds of dust are often developed on the elevated plains,
sweeping furiously over the land, and in their eddies bearing along coarse sand
and at times even the shingle itself. What the Spaniards say of the Philippines,
Burton appUes to the Ugogo country : Seis mezcs de polw, seis mezes de lodo.
" Six months of dust, six of bog." The vapour- charged fogs of the coastlands,
which at night precipitate a copious dew, do not penetrate far into the elevated
lands of the interior.*

Flora and Fauxa.

The wealth of vegetation is regulated by the quantity of the rainfall. The
zone of coastlands, being sufficiently watered, is everywhere clothed with her-
baceous or forest growths. North of the Rovuma the terraced lands inhabited by
the Makondes present the same general aspect as the region south of that river,
where the Mavihas have their camping-grounds. Here scrub and brushwood are
matted into such dense masses, that no progress can be made except axe in hand.
In various parts of the northern section of the coastlands the vegetation, while
equally dense and more leafj-, has a more forest-like character. On leaving the
^•illages, convoys at once plunge into arboreal avenues where the porters have
great difficulty in forcing a passage through the tangled branches. Elsewhere
the trees are rarer and often grouped in picturesque clusters. In the vicinity of
the marshy tracts the reeds and tall grasses grow to a height of 12 or 14 feet,
forming' a dense iungle, where marauders at times lie in ambush to fall on the
unwary wayfarer, or where runaway slaves find a temporary shelter.

The msandarusi, or copal-tree, which yields the best gum known to commerce,
flourishes along the banks of the Lower Eufiji for 35 or 40 miles from the coast.
The highlands are clothed especially with mimosas and other plants of low

* Mean temperature of Zanzibar as recorded for four years, 82° F. : for March (hottest month), 34";
for July (coldest month), 77° ; number of rainy days, 120 ; total rainfall, 60 inches ; rainfall in 1859,
170 inches.

310 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

growth ; interspersed, however, with gigantic tamarinds and sycamores, whose
huge spreading branches might shelter a whole regiment; or the calabash-tree, in
whose hollow trunk a fainil}' might be accommodated. The Usagara Mountains
abound especially in arborescent species with sweet-smelling flowers and delicious
fruits, although never improved by cultivation. Wooded tracts are often met
where the traveller might fancy himself everywhere surrounded by dense forests,
yet as he advances the trees are seen to grow rarer and soon give place to the
open savannah. In the Ugogo district, on the opposite side of the mountains,
woods are still met in the well-watered bottom-lands, while elsewhere fuel is so
scarce that the natives are obliged to burn cow-dung, as in the prairies of the Far
West. Nevertheless, in these regions some large trees are still met, here a few
calabashes or a solitary baobab indicating the site of human abodes, there a
gigantic euphorbia serving as a landmark or station for caravans.

But if forest growths are rare, large animals still abound, especially in Ihe
districts remote from the trade routes. Certain parts of the plateau are still
frequented by the elephant, the rhinoceros, giraffe, buffalo, and ostrich. Till
recently even lions were so nxunerous that villages had to be displaced to avoid their
dangerous neighbourhood.

Inhabitants,

Several of the tribes dwelling in the northern part of the Rovuma basin
scarcely differ in speech and usages from the populations inhabiting the southern
slope. Some lead an unsettled existence, frequently changing their settlements
and making incursions on both sides of the river. Thus the Wanindis and the
Magwangwaras, or Makondes, who assume the formidable name of Maviti in order
to strike terror into their more timid neighbours, and who have wasted so many
districts and enslaved so many peoples on the south side of the Rovuma, have now
established their chief encampments on the opposite slope. The two groups of
tribes which confront each other from their elevated terraces on both sides of the
Lower Rovuma, speak a common language, and in other respects present such a
strong family likeness, that they are evidently branches of the same race, notwith-
standing their distinctive tribal names.

On the south reside the Slavihas (Ma-Viha), on the north the Makondes,
(Ma-Konde), the latter rendered extremely repulsive by the scarifications covering
face and body, which are renewed from time to time in such a way as to raise
prominent ridges on the surface of the skin. The pelele is also universally worn
by the women, giving the upper lip from a distance somewhat the appearance of
a boar's snout. Nevertheless the Makonde women enjoy a considerable share of
independence. They are not purchased, nor do their parents claim the right to
dispose of them in marriage. On the contrary, the}- choose their own husbands,
and when the matter has been settled by mutual consent, the bride enters her new
home, sweeping the floor and setting everything in order. She is then joined by
the bridegroom, who leaves his gun or other arms at the door. But although this

THE MAKONDES.

311

completes the simple wedding rites, unions are, as a rule, much respected. Cases
of infidelity are extremely rare, and when they do occur, the offence is always
punished by the banishment of the delinquent. After a confinement the wife lives
apart from her husband till the child begins to speak. Then on the day of reunion
the mother brings her offspring to the crossing of two paths, symbolising the
different ways of life, and after rubbing it over with oil resigns it to the father,
and the family life is resumed.

At the death of a Makonde all the grain he possessed is immediately converted
into beer for the benefit of the community, and the mourning or feasting lasts
until all the liquor is consumed. Enriched by the sale of the gum copal and

Fig. 92.— MAvmi Type.

caoutchouc, large quantities of which are produced in their territorj-, the Makuas
have become very proud and overbearing, and show much mistrust at the visits of
strangers. Some English missionaries settled in the Masasi country, on the
western border of the Makonde territory, have hitherto failed to establish uninter-
rupted relations with these natives. In the year 1877, when Chauncy Maples
penetrated into one of their villages, the inhabitants, who had never before seen a
European, took him for a ghost, but consented to supply him with food.

The Masasi country belongs to a powerful branch of the Makua nation, which
farther south occupies such an extensive domain in the Mozambique region. The
Yaos of the Nyassa highlands are also niimerously represented in this part of the
Rovuma basin. Here are also met some Wamueras (Wa-Muera), a feeble remnant

312 SOUTU AND EAST AFRICA.

of a formerly powerful tribe almost entirely exterminated by tlie Maviti. These
Wamueras were at one time very numerous, especially in the neighbourhood of the
coast near Kiloa.

The Wangindos or "Wagindos (Wa-Ngindo, AVa-Gindo), who have replaced
the "Wamueras in the districts to the north and north-west of the terrace occupied
by the ^lakondes, are one of the many warlike tribes that have assumed the name
of the Ma%ati. To keep up the fiction they have also adopted the dress, war-cry,
weapons, and customs of these formidable kinsmen of the Zulus. By some of their
neighbours they are called "Walihuhu (Wali-IIuhu), a name formed in imitation of
their battle-cry. The Mahenges (Ma-IIenge), who dwell farther north in the
Rufiji basin between Uranga and Ruaha, also try to strike terror by the same
device, after having had themselves to tremble before these fierce warriors. The
Wanyakanyakos (Wa-Nyakanyaka) had been reduced by them to the condition
of serfs, before the advent of the German administrators.

The Wazaramos.

The district east of the Mahenges, in the Rufiji basin, is occupied by the "Wa-
ndondes, or Wadondis (Wa-Ndonde, "Wa-Dondi), who are conterminous with the
Wazaramos (Wa-Zaramo) of the region comprised between the Rufiji, the lower
Kingani, and the territory of the Swaheli, or " Coast People." The Wazaramos
are for the most part men of medium stature, but of rare physical strength. They
are evidcnth- of mixed origin, and present a corresponding variety of types.
Some travellers have been struck by the great number of albinos met in their
coimti-y. Since the middle of the present century they have been frequently
visited by Arab traders and European explorers ; bence the accounts now
received of their social usages differ greatly from those of the early observers.
Through contact with the outer world their customs have been considerably
modified, and they now wear the Arab dress, purchase arms, implements, and
ornaments from the traders, and have discontinued many of tbeir ferocious ances-
tral practices.

But in the more remote districts Wazaramos may still be seen whose features
are slashed with deep gashes from ear to mouth, who wear no clothes except short
skirts of foliage or grassy fibre, who by mixing clay with the hair buUd up head-
dresses shaped like a roof, and formerly used poisoned arrows, which they kept
in a carefullj' ornamented quiver. Cruel punishments for real or imaginary
offences were by no means rare amongst the Wazaramos : they burnt the wizard
with his wife and children, threw to the bush all infants whose teeth presented
anj' departure from the normal disposition ; at times twins shared the same fate,
as well as all children born on impropitious days. Even those who had sur\-ived
the dangers besetting their infancy were miirdered if they ground their teeth in
sleep, or had any other physical defect considered likely to bring misfortune on
the famil)'. On the otber hand, the mother who lost her child through an
accident or any illness, was held responsible for its death ; she was driven from

THE WAZAEAMOS.

313

the village, had to daub her face with clay, and silently to endure the insults
heaped upon her.

The "Wazaramos do not practise circumcision, although they have in many
other respects been subjected to the influence of the Mohammedans on the
coast. Most of them speak Swaheli as well as their native language, and on gala
days the chiefs wear the flowing robe, vest, and turban of the Arabs. The
women also have adopted the Mussulman style of dress, but do not go veiled.
The dwellings of the wealthy classes are palaces compared to the ordinary native
huts, being small houses presenting almost a European aspect.

The Wakweres (Wa-Kwere), Wakami (Wa-Kami), and "Wakhutus (Wa-

Fig. 93. — East Afeican Teibes between thb Rovuma and Paoani.

Scale 1 : 9,000,000.

. 120 Miles.

Khutu), who dwell farther west in the hilly region about the headstreams of the
Kingani, are closely related to, although far less civilised than, the Wazaramos.
They wear nothing but scanty bark clothes, and their habitations are rather dens
of wild beasts than human abodes. In their country trials for witchcraft,
followed by the inevitable punishment of the stake, are even stiU heard ol
Much more civilized are their Wazeguha (Wa-Zeguha, Wa-Zegiu-a) neighbours,
who with the kindred Wangurus (Wa-Nguru), inhabit the unproductive plains
on the north side of the mountains traversed by the Lower Wanii River. Nearly
all these tribes have been converted to the Mohammedan religion through the
influence of the contiguous Swaheli and Arab communities ; the possession of
firearms has also made them formidable slave-himters.

814 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

The Wazeguhas are almost the only people in this region of East Africa
who do not recognise the principle of inheritance in the transmission of the
supreme authority- The succession depends rather on personal qualities, strength,
courage, or wealth, and the consequence is that incessant warfare is carried on
hy the rival candidates for the position of tribal chief. Occasionally their
neighbours become involved in these intertribal feuds, which at times lead to
the extennination of whole communities. Thus the Wadoes (Wa-Doe), one of
the local clans, has almost entirely disappeared during the ceaseless broils by
which the land has been wasted, and fugitive members of this group have been
scattered northwards as far as the neighbourhood of the equator. Their territory
was generally avoided by travellers, because the Wadoes were known to be
cannibals. Both sexes disfigured themselves by two broad red scars, traced from
near the temples down to the point of the chin. The two upper incisors were also
extracted, and the national costiime consisted of skins dyed yellow. At the death
of a free man two slaves were buried alive in the same grave, a woman in order to
prop his head during his last sleep, a 'man furnished with an axe in order to
supply him with fuel in the cold, dark earth. The village chiefs try to make
themselves look more terrible by cutting their nails in the form of lions' claws,
and avoid meeting each other on the highway, pretending that their glance must
prove fatal to a rival in authority. Hence when they have to deliberate on
matters of common interest, the meeting takes place in a hut divided into two or
more compartments, one for each chief, and the discussion is then carried on over
the partitions.

The Wasagaras and Wagogos.

The highland district lying between the seaboard and the inland plateau is
inhabited by the various Wasagara ("Wa-Sagara) clans, some still as barbarous
as the Wakhutu peoples, others already more or less civilized through their
continuous intercourse with the Swaheli, the Arabs, and the European explorers.
Their language, divided into several dialects, is one of the most widely diffused
in the interior, being current in some communities as far as the neighbourhood of
Mombasa The "Wasagaras are generally distinguished by a fuller growth of
beard from all the surrounding populations. Some of their chief branches are the
Wuhehes ("Wa-IIehe), in the southern basin of the Ruaha, and farther north,
towards the frontiers of Masailand, the Wamegis (Wa-Megi), the Wakagurus
(Wa-Kaguru), and the Wagejas ("Wa-Geja). The distinctive sign of all these
groups is the lower lobe of the car, which, by the insertion of ornaments such as
wooden, metal, or horn discs, continually increasing in size, is gradually distended
until at last it touches the shoiJder. The cavity thus produced is often utilized
for holding little boxes, tobacco pouches, instruments, and other nicknacks.
While most of the tribes are bearded, the Wahehes, whose language closely
resembles the Ki-Swaheli, have absolutely hairless faces. They have enslaved
the Wabenas (Wa-Bena), a peaceful nation who have become famous for their

O
to

THE WASWAHELI. 815

remarkable skill in carving and sharpening swords made of ebony. Their
territory, a hilly plateau considerably over 6,000 feet above sea-level, is a nigged
bleak region swept by biting winds.

The Wagogos (Wa-Gogo), who occupy the section of the plateau stretching as
far as the watershed towards Unyamezi, were formerly much dreaded as fierce
marauders. "When the first Arab caravan made its appearance in their territory.
Burton tells us that they were so surprised at the corpulence of the leader, that
they took him for a god, and called upon him to bring down rain from heaven ;
but their prayers not being immediately answered, they were about to murder the
strange deity when an opportune shower intervened to save his life. Yet the
"Wagogos are now said to be the least superstitious of all the East African popula-
tions. They have very few magicians amongst them, and even these have fallen
into great discredit. Most explorers who have visited these communities have
been struck by the small size of the skull compared with the broad features and
the prominent ears, which are Hkened by Biirton to the handles attached to two
sides of a jug or pitcher. The lobe is pierced and distended as amongst their
Wasagara neighbours. In this part of Africa ears enlarged in this way were a mark
of freedom, slaves being forbidden either to pierce the lobe or attach any ornament
to this organ. Nearly all the Wagogos are amply clothed, even the children
wearing a large robe. Their language is much harsher than that of the neigh-
bouring tribes. It is generally spoken in a loud, aggressive voice, sometimes even
with a certain brutality, the Wagogos being accustomed to bully the timid traders
visiting their country, before the establishment of orderly rule by the Germans.

The Waswaheh.

But however powerful they may be, all the inland peoples have been influenced
by the traders from Zanzibar and the adjacent seaboard. The Ki-Swaheli, that
is the language of these SwaheH (Wa-Swaheli) or " Coast People," is daily
becoming more widely diffused amongst all the native peoples in this part of
the continent. Yet the tribes by whom this idiom is being propagated far and
wide are neither stronger nor more numerous than the others. On the contrary,
they cannot be said even to constitute a distinct ethnical group at all, for the Waswa-
heli are of most diverse origin, and have become intermingled with immigrants from
all the neighbouring regions. What gives them a certain national unity apart
from most other Bantu populations is the Mohammedan religion, which they have
adopted and profess with more or less zeal. The Arab element also has greatly
contributed to modify their usages, and transform the agricultural communities
into groups of active traders.

Ki-Swaheli is spoken in its greatest purity in the districts north of Mombasa
and ilalindi, where the dialect known by the name of Ki-Ngozi has preserved its
archaic forms, and is consequentlj- used by poets in preference to all others. As it
gradually spread southwards along the coastlands and adjacent islands as far as
Mozambique, the current speech became more and more affected by Indian,

31 G SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

Persian, Portuguese, and especially Arabic elements. Notably in Zanzibar it has
been extensively Arabised, and here all abstract terms are of Semitic origin.
Nevertheless the Bantu substratum has been preserved, and the grammatical
structure has remained purely African. From the seaports, centres of commercial
life for the whole of East Africa, Ki-Swahuli has been disseminated throughout
the regions of the interior, and like the Bunda language of .i\jigola and neighbour-
ing lands, like the Se-Suto of the Basuto people between the Drakenberg and the
Zambese, it has become a general medium of intercourse which in some places is
already supplanting the local dialects altogether. Although spoken as their
mother-tongue by probably not more than a million persons, Ki-Swaheli seems
entitled to rank as " one of the twelve most important languages of the world with
reference to the vast area over which it is a lingua franca, its position as a leading
language amidst a host of uncultivated congeners, and its power to assimilate alien
elements, especially the Arabic, which has done for it what it has alreadj' done for
the Turkish, Persian, Urdu, Hausa, and Malay" (Oust). Cameron tells us that
during his journey from east to west across the continent, he met in every tribe of
the interior one or more persons conversant with this language of the cast coast.
It was by comparing a number of Ki-SwahcU words with the corresponding terms
in the West African and Kafrarian dialects that so early as 1808 Lichtenstein was
able to advance the hypothesis of the fundamental unity of the Bantu peoples
from Algoa Bay to Mombasa ou the east and the Gaboon ou the west coast. This
hvpothesis has since been amply confirmed, so far at least as regards the unity of
the linguistic familj' spread over this vast area of many millions of square miles.

Ki-Swaheli possesses a relativelj' copious literature. It comprises, like so
many other Negro dialects, translations of the Bible and of various religious
treatises, as well as collections of proverbs, legends, poems, in the publication of
which the natives themselves, as well as the missionaries, take an active part. The
Arabic alphabet, till recently almost exclusively employed, has now been generally
replaced by the Roman characters, which are much more suitable for expressing
the sounds of all Bantu languages. But authors have not yet come to an under-
standing as to the best dialect to be definitively adopted as the common literary
standard. The preference, however, will most probablj' be ultimately given to the
Unguya, that is, the form current in the island of Zanzibar.

Topography.

The gradual assimilation of the inland populations to those of the seaboard in
all social respects is being steadily effected by the development of peaceful trading
relations under the German administration. Various centres of population,
most of which, however, contain scarcely more than two or three hundred huts,
follow successivelj- along the commercial highways leading from the maritime
ports to those that have already sprung up on the shores of the equatorial lakes.
Manj' favourably situated harbours also, which had hitherto been cut off from all
communication with the interior by incessant intertribal feuds and slave-hunting

MIKIKDANI.— LINDI.

317

expeditions, have now become flourishing centres of a constantly increasing foreign
trade, which no longer consists of slaves brought down from the interior, but of
the legitimate interchange of the produce of the plantations on the fertile coast-
lands for European wares of all kinds.

Mikindani, one of the first of these ports occurring to the north of the Rovuma,
presents an excellent anchorage, where shipping is afl'orded good shelter. It is not
yet much frequented, and the movement of exchanges is still mainly in the hands of
Hindu traders, who take gum copal, ivory, and rice in exchange for textile fabrics,
glass beads, and arms. Lindi, lying more to the north-west, on a bay where the

Fig. 94. — Poets of Mikindani and Mto-Mtwaea.
Pcale 1 : 160,000.

40 a

EastDp Greenwich

4C'25'

Depths.

Sands and reefs exposed
at low water.

Oto32
Feet.

32 to 320

Feet.

320 Feet and
upwards.

. 3 Miles.

Ukeredi River reaches the coast, is a thriving little seaport of about four thousand
inhabitants. Here the staple export is caoutchouc, the trade in which is shared
between the Banyans and Arabs. The forest where the caoutchouc-yielding lianas
twine like coiling snakes round the stems and branches, occupies a strip of the
seaboard with a mean breadth of from 18 to 20 miles. A rock near the extremity
of the estuary is crowned with the ruins of an old Portuguese stronghold.

The valley of the Ukeredi leads inland to the il/(7.s«.s(' district, where the English
missionaries have founded an important station, which has become a centre of
acclimatisation for European plants in the Makua and Makonde territories. The

81«

SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

Yaos, wto are a much-travelled people, and who therefore regard thtsmselves
as much superior to the simple stay-at-home 3Iakuas, have also numerous
settlements in this countrj'. The missionarj^ village has been built on a small
northern affluent of the Rovuma in an extremely fertile clearance encircled by
forest-clad hills. This Masasi station, standing at an elevation of about 1,800
feet above the sea, is one of the most salubrious places in all Africa at least for the

Fig. 96.— KiLOA-KisiWAifi.

Scale 1 : 118,000.

59'55'

Ucpthu.

Sands and reefs exposed
at low water.

0to32
Feet.

32 to 320
Feet.

820 Feet and
upwards.

6 Miles.

European constitution. Chauncy Maples considers that a line drawn from Lindi
through Masasi towards the upper Rovuma would indicate the very best route
between this coast and Lake Nyassa.

KiLOA .VND DaR-ES-SaL.\.\M.

Beyond Lindi follow other ports on the seaboard, which is here fringed by coral
reefs with steep terraced escarpments. Here one of the largest inlets is that of
Kiloa-Kisiwani, which at the entrance is sheltered by a cluster of islets, and which

fi"'",},

|, l:ill,(,|i,IJ:il,„^,„l|h,;i

Q
<

,io:

...Liii-i'liiiiiiijil'ii

EILOA. 319

penetrates some 12 miles north-westwards into the interior, presenting in many
places a perfectly safe anchorage in deep water. Nevertheless this splendid
harbour, although frequented in the tenth century by the Persians of Shiraz, is
now but nttle utilised, its importance having been greatly diminished since the
fifteenth century. At that time a flourishing city, the Quiloa [Eiloa) of the
Portuguese, was the residence of the Zenj sultans, who ruled over the whole sea-
board from Cap3 Delgado to Mombasa. During the first half of the fourteenth
century Ibn-Batuta, the famous Arab geographer and traveller, visited this
great emporium, which he called Kulua, and which was governed by a Mussulman
prince, by him described as a person of perfect generosity towards the faquirs
(religious mendicants) and a pious observer of the holy war against the Infidel.
At one time Kiloa was said to have as many as three hundred mosques. Fran-
cisco d' Almeida's fleet captured the place after a destructive siege in the year 1505,
but the conquerors were soon decimated by fever, and this seaport was gradually
abandoned by shippers. In the seventeenth century it fell, with the rest of this
coast, into the hands of the Imam of Muscat, from whom it passed for a time to
the Sultan of Zanzibar; but since the suppression of the slave trade by the Ger-
mans the traffic of Kiloa has become insignificant. A few Hindu and Arab
traders are settled in the little village of Kiloa-Kmicani, that is " Insular Kiloa,"
which stands on the island of Eiloa beneath the walls of an old citadel and the
crumbKng remains of some crenellated ramparts.

At present the chief stream of traffic has been deflected some 18 miles to the
north-west, towards the far less convenient harbour of Kiloa-Kiriitjc, or " Conti-
nental Kiloa," whose little houses and hovels, interspersed with ruins, are grouped
in the shade of the surrounding cocoanut groves. But the marshy tracts run-
ning parallel with the seashore have hitherto prevented the construction of a road
to the interior. Yet Kiloa-Kivinje, which in 1899 had a population of ten
thousand, was for many years the chief port on this coast for the exportation of
slaves, and although the traffic is legally abolished and supposed to be suppressed,
the Arab dhows are said to still occasionally secure a cargo of living freight from
the surrounding creeks.

The routes followed by the dealers in ivory between Kiloa and Lake Nyassa
are even still dangerous, for they traverse the territories of the "Wangindos,
Wanindis, and Magwangwaras, all of whom are marauding tribes who have not
yet been completely subdued by the Germans. North of Kiloa a safer route runs
along the coast, crossing the Eufiji at the head of the delta. In the year 1880
Beardall saw no less than twenty-seven large boats employed in the transport of
the convoys to the village of Nya-Ntumbo, which at that time marked the site of
the ferry.

Another important station on the banks of the Rufiji is Korogero, which lies
below the fluvial cataracts and gorges at the converging point of the trade routes
from Kiloa, Dar-es-Salaam, and the intermediate seaports. Before the German
occupation Korogero was exposed to the incursions of the Wamahengis, who
paid periodical visits to the district, burning the villages and carrying off the

820

SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

inhabitants into slavery. To avoid these raiders the natives, after gathering in
their crops, take refuge in the islands of the river, where they are protected by
the crocodiles infesting these waters.

Bnr-cs- Salaam, lying north of the Rufiji, is the port which the Germans selected
in 1890 as the capital of their East African possessions. Its Arab name means

Fig. 96.— The Two Kiloas.

Scale 1 : 100.000.

Ea!,t rf Green«'icf»

Sands and reefs rxposed
at low water.

0tol6
Feet.

T'epths.

16 to 32
Feet.

32 to 640
Feet.

640 Feet and
upwards.

.6 Miles.

" House " or " Abode of Peace," but this appears to be merely a popular etymology
of the Ki-Swaheli Dari-Salama, which is its true name, and which has the sense
of " Safe Roof." The harbour, which is one of the best on the whole seaboard, can
be reached only through a long channel winding between coral reefs. The inner
basin communicating through this channel with the sea penetrate.s nearly five
miles farther inland, and offer.s to shipping an available space several square miles
in superficial extent. However fiercely the storm may rage beyond the channel.

DAE-ES-SALAAM.

321

the waters of this landlocked haveu always remain unruffled. The town and the
neio-hbouring populous village of Mjimuema are built on an upheaved cliff, which
was formerly a coral reef commanding the old marine channel now converted into
an estuary.

The German officials stationed at Dar-es-Salaam are endeavouring to attract to

Fig. 97. — Dae-es-Salaam before 1890.
Scale 1 : 80,000.

Sands and reefe exposed 0 to 16
at low water. Feet.

Depths.

16 to 82
Feet.

32 to 80

Feet.

80 Feet and
upwards.

. 2,200 Yards.

this port some of the trade of Zanzibar, and the total exchanges already exceeded
£450,000 in 1898, when the population was estimated at 14,000. North of
Louren<jo Marques, Dar-es-Salaam is one of the few places on the eastern seaboard
where a beginning has been made with the construction of a carriage road leading
towards the interior of the continent. This great highway, which it is already
proposed to convert into a railway, first traverses the zone of lowlands often

AFRICA IV. y

822 SOUTH AND EA5T AFBICA.

inundated during the rainy sciison, and tlien climbs the hills to its culminating
point at the village of Kola, about ^30 miles west of Dar-cs-Halaam. At Kola,
where it descends westwards in the direction of the Kingani A'^alley, two routes
now branch off, one running to Lake Tanganyika, the other to Nyassa. The former,
keeping more to the west, traverses the mountains and valleys of Usagara and
Ugogo, and so on through Tabora to Ujiji, while the latter, bending to the south-
west, crosses the rolling plains of Uzaramo, the Rufiji gorges, and the Luwego
Vallej-. Although still far from perfect, the Dar-es-Salaam road is already utilised
for a considerable local traffic, and the riverain planters so highly appreciate its
advantages that they have constructed several branches to connect the more remote
villages with the main highway.

Bagamovo.

North-west of Dar-es-Salaam follows Bagamoyo, which, however, unlike it,
possesses no natural haven. It stands on an open beach which slopes gently down
to the water's edge and then shoals so gradually that the shipping has to ride at
anchor about two miles off the coast. But this point of the bay, whose name of
Baga-Moyo, or " Bottom of the Heart," indicates its central position on the con-
cave curve of the shore, enjoys the advantage of standing exactly opposite the city
of Zanzibar, about 2G miles distant. It thus occupies the most convenient point on
the coast for the traffic between the capital and the mainland. Bagamoyo also
lies only a few miles to the south of the Rufu or Kingani estuary, and thus com-
mands the entrance to a thickly peopled fluvial valley, which descends from the
Usagara uplands, strategical centre of the whole country.

Thanks to these favourable conditions, Bagamoyo has already become a large
African town, with a motley population of Europeans, natives, and Asiatics, which
was estimated at considerably over 14,000 in the year 1899. Like Zanzibar and
other Arab towns, it has its bazaar, and several of its buildings have been con-
structed in the European style. But the surrounding district is low and insalu-
brious, though less so since, under the new sanitary regulations, the streets and
open spaces are no longer encumbered with refuse of all sorts, and the beach with
the remains of the fish which forms the staple food of the "Warimas (Wa-Rima),
or coast people. Bagamoyo is occasionally visited by fierce cyclones, which uproot
the trees and sweep away the native dwellings.

The Arabs are relativel)' less numerous in Bagamoyo than in the neighbouring
island of Zanzibar ; but on the other hand the Hindus of various castes have here
formed a powerful colony, which has monopolised nearly aU the local trade, and
disposes of the "Wanyamezi porters to the caravans on its own terms. Bagamoyo
carries on a considerable export trade in ivory, copal, rubber, as well as coffee,
vanilla, tobacco, and other produce from the German plantations, the total value
of which exceeded £200,000 in 1S98. Here is the extensive group of buildings
belonging to the Catholic mission, which, before the French priests were replaced
by Germans, was the head of all the other stations in East Africa. Hundreds of

SAADANI.

323

children were here taught various trades, and cultivated the surrounding orchards
and gardens of acclimatisation. Even after thej- had become adults the}- remained
under " the firm and wise tutelage " of the fathers, and continued to work five
days in the week for the benefit of the community. The cocoanut grove surround-

Fig. 98. — Baoaiioto.
Scale 1 : loO,CJOO.

Depths.

Sands and reefs exposed
at low water.

Oto 16
Feet.

16 to 32
Feet.

32 Feet and
upwards.

. 3 Miles.

ing the mission, and containing about a hundred and sixty thousand plants, j-ields
sufficient produce to supply all the wants of the colony.

Saadani, lying some 30 miles farther north, occupies a position somewhat
analogous to that of Bagamoyo. Like this place, it is situated on the strait of
Zanzibar, over against the island, and in the immediate vicinity of an estuarj-, that
of the river Wami. But the roadstead is much less frequented, the local popula-
tion scarcely exceeds four thousand, and here are organised few caravans for the

824 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

interior, except those of English travellers, favoured by the British mission
stationed iu this place.

The Caravan Trade. — Inland Stations.

The whole of the commercial movement between the coast and TJjiji, on Lake
Tanganj'ika, is carried on by means of the so-called pagazi, or porters, each of
whom balances on his head a load averaging about sixty pounds weight. Most of
the men engaged in the seaboard towns come from Unyamezi or Usukura, and
although nominally free, these men are in reality the slaves of the Arab and
Hindu traders, who get them into their power by payments of wages in advance,
charging such heavy interest on the money that their victims are never able to
clear off the debt. The ashari, or soldiers, who act as escorts to the convoy, and also
usually carry half a load, are equally in the hands of the Dar-es-Salaam and
Bagamoyo traders, who in fact ultimately receive nearly all the profits on every
expedition equipped for the purchase of ivory.

The caravans, composed generally' of several hundred, at times even several
thousand persons, march like armed forces through the land. They are under the
command of a hb-onfjozi, or captain, and are again divided into a number of
brigades, each under a separate ui/ampara, or major. The order of march is
planned beforehand each day ; the main body is preceded by a vanguard and followed
by a rearguard, while the flanks are protected by scouts and others engaged to
clear the way and collect fodder. A special place is also assigned to the women
and children in the convoy and in the camping-ground. In the Mgunda Mkhali
solitudes the scrub is traversed by three parallel tracks, about 60 feet apart. In
the middle track walk the women, the children, and the porters bending under
their heavy burdens, while the two side paths are taken by the lightly-loaded
pagazi and the armed men. The caravans have now, however, seldom to defend
themselves from direct attack, except in the few remote districts, to which the
German rule has not yet been effectively extended. Nor are they any longer
subjected to the exactions of the kinglets or tribal chiefs, who, under one pretext
or another, levied a sort of blackmail, the so-called hougo, or road-tax, the amount
of which might at times be arbitrarily increased. Provision has, however, still to
be made against fever, epidemics, droughts, and the thousand other accidents by
" flood or tield " incidental to such long expeditions.

Thanks to the experience already acquired bj' explorers since the first journeys
of Burton, Livingstone, Stanley, and other pioneers, the time occupied by the trip
between Bagamoyo and the shores of Tanganyika has been diminished by three-
fourths. This space of about 600 miles may now be got over in six weeks or so,
but all attempts have hitherto failed to replace the porters along this route
cither by pack animals or wheeled traffic. Horses cannot be employed, because
within a ten days' march of the coast begin the regions infested by the tsetse fly.
The ass resists better, but this animal at last yields to the poisoned sting of this
insect. Essays have also been made with pack oxen, while Roger Price has tried

THE CARAVAN TEADE. 325

to forward goods by the long teams of cattle employed by the traders in South
Africa. But all these experiments have ended in disappointment, and the
Usagara highlanders are now the heirs of the useless waggons abandoned by the
wavside near Kondoa (Mkondoa), the station founded in the year 1881 by the
French commission of the " African Association."

In 1879 it was hoped that the problem of transport had been solved by intro-
ducing from Itidia four well-trained elephants. The intelligent and docile
animals did ta fact accomplish one-third of the journey without accident ; between
Dar-es-Salaam and Mpwaf)wa they surmounted aU obstacles of mountain, swamp,
and river, their only food being herbs and foliage. Nor did they appear to be
much the worse after an exposure of twenty-three days to the bite of the tsetse
pest. It was supposed that the experiment had succeeded, when suddenlj' one of
the four died, without any apparent cause. Soon after, all the other elephants
perished in the same way, whether through change of food or of climate, or
possibly worn out by the hardships of the route, for along these rugged mountain
tracks they had been laden with burdens of sixteen hundred or eighteen hundred
pounds weight. Since then the costh' experiment has not been renewed, and the
question of transport is now being settled by the railway, which has alreadj' been
opened for a distance of 10 miles, from Tawja on the coast to Poiigwe, in the
direction of Karagwe.

Along the highways of commerce leading from the coast to Tahora there are
no towns properly so called. Even the villages are frequently displaced, and
many capitals of petty states visited by the early explorers are now nothing more
than a heap of ruins. The wayside caravanserais most usually selected for
revictualling the convoys are the stations of the missionaries, such as Mamhoija
and Jlptrapuri, both situated to the west of the highlands, on a plateau where the
headwaters of the Wami take their rise, and where the alimentary plants of
Europe thrive to perfection. They stand nearly about midway between Bagamoyo
and Tabora, and immediately beyond them begins the wilderness of brushwood,
acacias, and gum-yielding plants, which the wayfarer hastens to traverse as
rapidly as possible in order to reach the Ugogo villages, themselves scattered
amongst the bush.

Boimded on the east by the Marenga Mkhali region, as the wilderness is called,
Fgogo stretches westwards to the verge of another solitude known as the Mgunda
Mkhali, or " Land of Fire." Here the chief resting-place is Jue-la-Mkoa, the
" Round Hill," so called from the neighbouring syenite eminence, 120 feet high.
Farther on the main track trends north-west to Tabora, which occupies a strate-
gical position of vital importance at the converging point of the trade routes from
the Indian ocean, Tanganyika, and Victoria Nyanza. It lies in the heart of
Unyamwezi, 4,000 feet above sea-level, near the sources of the Malagarazi, largest
affluent of Tanganj'ika. From Tabora the highway runs nearly due west to its
terminus at the historical station of UJiji, on the east side of Tanganyika, a few
miles north of the mouth of the Malagarazi. But this famous Arab station lies in
a fever-stricken district, and has lost much of its importance since the suppression

326

SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

of the slave trade. Hence the coast railway is being extended, not to Ujiji but to
Warahanje, the old capital of Karagwe, one of the healthiest places in East Africa,
and future sanatorium of the German officials in that region.

Fi^. 90. — OCKASIO AN-D T.ANDWABD CoASTS OP FeHBA COMrAEED.
Scale 1 : 4™i.0no.

39-35

59-50

Depths.

Saods find reefs exposed 0 to 80
at low water. Feet.

80 to 320
Feet.

320 Feet and
upwards.

G Miles.

7.AXZIH.\R .\M) M.\FI.\.

Tlie i.sland of Zanzilifir, centre of the commercial activity and of the religious
propaganda radiating from the .seaboard towards the interior of East Africa, is of
itself of very small extent. But by its geological formation it is connected with

ISLAND OF MAi'IA. 327

two other islands also Ipng at a short distance from the mainland, and also
resting on rocky coralline reefs. Mafia, Zanzibar, and Pemba, are either the
remains, or possibly the first foundation stones, as it were, of a future continent,
developing beyond the inner an outer coastline almost everywhere presenting
precipitous buttresses to the fury of the breakers rolling in from the deep. All
three islands are disposed exactly in the same direction as the coast of the opposite
mainland. Thus the axis of Mafia is inclined from south-west to north-east, like
the neighbouring shore between the Rovuma delta and the ras or headland of
Mwamba Mku. Zanzibar in the same way runs south-east and north-west, parallel
with the seaboard bet^*een Dar-es-Salaam and Saadani, while Pemba, like the con-
tiguous continental shore-line, follows the direction from north to south, with a
slight inclination towards the east.

The great oceanic depths do not begin tiU some distance off the windward side
of the islands. On the west or landward side the reefs are very niimerous, some
strewn over the bed of the sea, and at low water resembling the remains of another
" Giant's Causeway," some always awash or completel)' flooded, and endangering
the navigation along the line of tortuous channels open to shipping. The most
dreaded section of these waters lies between the island of IMafia and the Rufiji
delta, where the turbid fluvial stream spreading over the surface of the heavier
marine layers prevents the pilots from seeing the submerged reefs and shoals.
Hence skippers never attempt to venture through this passage at night, and most
vessels avoid it altogether by keeping on the east side of the island in the deep
waters of the open sea.

The Zanzibar channel is broader and deeper than that of Mafia ; nevertheless
at one point it is contracted to a space of little over three miles, or about one-fifth
of the whole distance from shore to shore. In mid-channel vessels ride at anchor
in some 20 or 22 fathoms of water.

Mafia, called also Monfia, southernmost of the three islands, is also the
smallest in extent, as well as the least important in population and natural
resources. The original coral reef, about 200 square miles in superficial area, is
now almost completely covered with a layer of fertile soil supporting a large
number of cocoanut palms. The island is continued southwards by an extensive
reef strewn with upheaved rocks, on one of which stands the village of Chohc,
capital of Mafia, and inhabited by a considerable number of Arab and Hindu
traders. The surrounding district is well cultivated but does not yield suflBcient
produce to support any considerable export trade. In any case the creek on
which Chobe stands is scarcely accessible at low water, so that shipping has to
anchor at a distance of 9 miles to the south-west of the island.

Zanzibar, the native name of which is Unguija, or the " Station," is the only
land in East Africa whose usual designation still recalls the ancient Zenj people
described by the mediaeval Arab writers as inhabiting the section of the seaboard
which stretched south of Somaliland towards the unknown southern waters. The
expression " Zanguebar coast," till recently applied to the coastlands comprised
between Mombasa and Kiloa, and now transferred under a corrupt form to the

82»

SOUTU AND EAST AFRICA.

adjacent island of Ungiiya, simply means " Zcnj Coast." Thus Zacfj-har
or Zanj-bar, correspondiuj^ to Hindu-bar, or " Coast of the Hindus," on the east side
of the Indian Ocean, indicated the whole seaboard .skirting the west side of the
same marine basin. Hence also the Arabs called this strip of coastlands Bilad-ez-
Zenj, that is, the " Land of the Zenj people." Marco Polo probably refers to this-

Fig. 100. — Island op Mafia.

Scnle 1 : 1,000,000.

Depths.

Sands and reefs ex-
posed at low water.

etc 32
Feet.

32 to 160

Feet.

160 to 640
Feet.

_ 12 Miles.

640 to 1,600
Feet.

1,600 Feet and
upwiirds.

stretch of the mainland when he somewhat vaguely speaks of " the i.siland of
Zanguebar, which extends about two thousand good miles, and where a very
great commerce is done." The term Zatiguebar, corrupted to Zanzibar, has thus-
been gradually restricted to a small section of the east coast, and then, as it were,
banished from the mainland to a small contiguous island. This is the reverse
process of what usually takes place, the tendency of geographical names being-,

ISLAND OF ZANZIBAE. 329

rather to expand, as we see in sucb instances as Africa, originally a small part of
Mauritania ; Asia, at first a little district on the Ionian coast ; Borneo {Brunei), a
town on the west side of the great island to which it now gives its name.

Although resting on a coralline foundation, the island of Zanzibar is not
exclusively composed of these organic remains. It also presents a few hills
formed of a reddish and ferruginous clay, which rise in gentle undidations above
the surrounding plain, and which in many places are furrowed by the running
waters and carved into columnar formations of surprising regularity. In the
southern part of the island the highest eminences do not exceed 450 feet, but on
the north-west coast a chain of hills running parallel with the shore attains an
elevation of 1,000 feet, culminating point of the island.

Nearly the whole surface of Zanzibar has been brought imder cultivation;
hence the population is relatively dense, being estimated, in 1899, at over
150,000 souls in a superficial area of not more than 650 square miles. The
island is thus proportionately more thickly peopled than France, and during the
north-east monsoon the settled population is said to be increased by over thirty
thousand strangers from Arabia, the Comoro Islands, India, and Persia.

Flora and Faun.'V of Zanzibar.

The insular flora is the same as that of the adjacent mainland. A few orchids
and one or two ferns appear to be the only indigenous species, or at least the only
varieties that have not yet been discovered on the opposite seaboard. The fertile
soil of the island yields in abundance aU the fruits of tropical lands, American
species here intermingling with those of the eastern archipelago. Two crops of
corn are raised in the twelvemonth, and four of manioc, which forms the staple food
of the inhabitants. Of palms the prevailing species is the cocoanut, which covers
extensive tracts and supplies the natives with food, drink, timber, cordage, oil for
exportation and for making soap. The date-palm also grows in the island, but its
fruit is inferior to that obtained from the oases of the Sahara. Magnificent mangoes,
whose fruit has a flavour of strawberries and cream, are extensively cultivated,
while the giiava, the orange, the lime, and bread-tree interlace their foliage with
the mangosteen and durian {durio zihethintis), introduced from the Sunda Islands,
whose fruit, after giving a smack of onions and mitey cheese, is said to be alto-
gether unrivalled for its exquisite flavour.

Zanzibar also produces the spices of India and Malaysia — cinnamon, nutmeg,
pepper, and, especially since 1830, cloves, the j-early crop of which formerly
exceeded many millions of pounds weight. But the tremendous hurricane of 1872
almost entirely destroyed the clove and cocoanut plantations, which, however, have
since been gradualh' restored.

Being a natural dependency of the African mainland, of which it probably
formed part at some former geological epoch, Zanzibar has an exclusively
continental fauna. But the animals are not numerous, most of the species having
either become extinct in this confined space, or been extei-minated by the peasantry.

830 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

About the year 1865 a hippopotamus swam across the intervening marine channel,
and was seen for several months disporting himself in the shallow watei-s along the
shore ; but there is no record of either the elephant or the rhinoceros having ever
visited the island in this way. Most of the local quadrupeds are of small size, as,
for instance, the dwarf antelope {mnwtragm), the otolinius, a half-monkey or
lemuroid, the civet, a few felines, such as the scrval and wild cat, but no hyajnas.
Rats, including some from Europe, have been introduced by the shipping.

The anfauna is represented by a large number of species, the marine channel
not being broad enough to arrest the flight of ordinary birds. The local guinea-
fowl, by some supposed to be a distinct variety, is probably identical with the
continental species. Nevertheless naturalists have discovered a few animals,
amongst others a lemur and a lizard, which really appear lo be quite peculiar to
the island. Till recently Zanzibar, in common ■with the neighbouring Pemba,
possessed a very beautiful monkey, the co/obiis Kirkii ; but when first noticed by
naturalists it had already become extremely rare, and according to the statement
of Johnston, has since entirely disappeared, the few surviving specimens haWng
unfortunately been killed by the hunters whom Sir John Kirk had sent either to
capture or to report on its existence.*

Inhabitants of Zanzibar.

On the east side of Zanzibar there still survive a few groups of aborigines, who
have hitherto kept aloof from all the intruding peoples. These are the Waha-
dimus (Wa-Hadimu), who have become Mohammedans, and whose Bantu dialect
has become in a more or less modified form the current speech of the whole island,
as well as the commercial language of a large part of East Central Africa. The
bulk of the people consist of Negroes, some free, but for the most part descended
from slaves introduced at various times from various parts of the continent.
These different elements have at last been fused in a single almost homogeneous
population enjoying imiformity of speech, religion and social institutions. The
practice of eating an argillaceous clay, common to so many African and other
peoples, is very prevalent amongst them.

The Arabs, who are politically the dominant race, are also the landed pro-
prietors, several residing like great lords on their plantations. Some of these
Arabs have retained their purity of blood, and consequently look with supreme
contempt on their sovereign, who is of mixed descent. They share with the
Europeans, Americans, " Canarians " or Portuguese of Goa, and Hindus, the whole-
sale trade of the island, which consists chiefly in ivory, caoutchouc, copal, orchilla,
and skins, brought from the opposite coast and here shipped in exchange for such
imports as dates and European wares, notably the so-called (imerikani, that is, bales
of cotton, which serve as a kind of currency in all transactions with the native
populations of the interior. In the island itself the Indian rupee is the legal
tender.

• The Kilima-Njaro Expedition, p. 38.

ISLAND OF ZANZIBAE.

331

The Americans were the first "Western nation who made a treaty of commerce
with Zanzibar, in 1835, and their trade with the island surpassed that of the other
foreign nations before the late political changes. Most of the Europeans living
in Zanzibar are either traders, missionaries, or GoTcrnment officials. As traders

Fit"

, 101. — Zanzibak.
Scale 1 : 40,000.

Eo=t cl Greenwich

m°<i'

SS'iS*

8ands and reefs exposed 0 to 16
at low water. Feet.

Depths.

16 to 32
Feet.

32 to 64
Feet.

64 Feet ana
upwards.

. 1,100 Yards.

they find it difficult to compete with their Eastern riA-als for the general traffic
with India and the neighbouring continent, and in 1898 the exchanges with India
exceeded £497,000, while those with Great Britain fell below £320,000. Since the
year 1873 the local merchants are forbidden to take any part in the slave-trade,
but before that time several thousand negroes were annually shipped for Arabia

332 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

and Persia. Domestic slavery is now also abolished, and in 1898 nearly 3,000
menials were emancipated.

The immigrants from India include Parsees, Hindi Shiah Mohammedans,
Khojas, and Bhoras, from Bombay and Surat, who are accompanied by their
wives ; lastly, the ubiquitous Banyans. These last, who occupy a separate quarter
of the capital, and who are also met in the seaports along the opposite coast, come
almost exclusively from the peninsula of Cutch, where reside their employers
and associates. They never bring their families with them, and are consequently
always eager to return to their homes, where they can freely observe all the
usages and religious rites of their native land. They yearly send to India the
earnings of their trade, keeping nothing for themselves except the capital required
to conduct their business transactions. Being extremely conscientious, they
scrupulously observe all the practices handed down by religious tradition. They
shave the head and beard, lea^-ing only the moustache, the whiskers, and a
little tuft of hair on the forehead. They wear a red turban and one or two
lengths of cotton gracefully folded round the body. They are excessively frugal,
restricting themselves entirely to a vegetarian diet of brcadstuffs, milk, butter,
cheese, fruits, and vegetables. All that has lived an animal life — beasts of the
field, birds of the air, or fish — is absolutely prohibited. In order to be sure that
no impure ingredients get mixed with their food, they send to India for their
cooking butter, and themselves prepare the meal. Were a stranger but to touch
their rice or wheat-meal, all would be polluted and thrown aside. The eatables are
served on fresh broad leaves, and the water drawn from the spring or cistern
in their own vessels, unsullied by the contact of a profane hand. The cow is their
sacred animal, and on feast days for her is prepared a choice banquet of potatoes
and maize. They never fail to burn their dead on the beach, a rit« attended with
much ceremony. First of all the skull is riveted with large nails, to prevent it
from bursting with the heat ; then the body is stretched on a funeral pyre com-
posed of as many blocks of wood as there are Banyans present to honour the dead.
After cremation, the ashes are cast to the winds.

Customs so entirely opposed to those of the Arabs and Swaheli, expose the
Banyans to the jeers and laughter of their neighbours ; but they endure aU
uncomplaininglj'. But these mild and resigned devotees quietly revenge them-
selves by growing rich at the expense of the scoffers. Unlike the Arabs, however,
they never at any time took part in the slave-trade, which was formerly carried
on along the whole seaboard from Somaliland ncarlj^ to the Zambese delta.
Hence in those days it was always considered a good sign and mark of social
improvement when the Hindu Banyans were observed to increase in numbers,
and the Moslem Arab element to diminish in the seaports on the east coast and
the neighbouring islands.

ISLAND OF PEMBA. 333

Topography.

The city of Zanzibar, which Kes near the middle of the west coast, to the
north-east of Bagamoyo, its outlet on the mainland, is the largest place on the
whole seaboard of East Africa washed by the Indian Ocean, and even on the
whole periphery of the continent except Alexandria, Tunis, and perhaps Algiers.
Seen from the water it presents a pleasant aspect, thanks to the bright look of its
huge white houses, barracks and forts, with their massive round towers. But all
this glittering frontage serves only to mask a dense mass of hovels, amid which
wind the narrow, filthj^ streets. A recently constructed aqueduct, however, now
supplies the place with pure water, to the great improvement of its health and
cleanliness. Hence Zanzibar is no longer such a dangerous residence as formerly.

A saline lagoon, dry at low water and crossed bj' two bridges, separates
Shungani, or the city properly so-called, from its eastern suburb, inhabited by the
Swaheli, freedmen, and fishmongers. At the entrance of this lagoon are generally
moored the Arab dhows, while the large ocean steamers, packets, and men-of-war,
ride at anchor o£E the town in six or seven fathoms of water. Several lines of
steam packets call regularly at Zanzibar, thus keeping up the commim^ications
with the coast towns, the Suez Canal, India, Mauritius, Reunion, and Madagascar.
The Sultan himself owns about a dozen trading vessels and one or two gunboats.
In 1898 the imports amounted to £1,400,000 and theexports to £1,190,000, while
the shipping had a total capacity of 245,000 tons, exclusive of the native coasting
vessels.

Zanzibar already commands many of the conveniences of the great European
seaports, including repairing appliances, an apparatus for distilling salt water, and
electric harbour lights. The Protestant and Catholic religious establishments are
supplemented by some large schools for both sexes, and even some workshops for
instructing the natives in the mechanical arts. In some other parts of the island,
where the wealthy Arab landowners have several fine country seats, a number of
factories have sprung up for the extraction of sugar and cocoanut oil. One of
the most important of these mills is that of Kokotoni, situated on the harbour of
like name, some 24 miles to the north of Zanzibar. This inlet, which is perfectly
sheltered by an island off the entrance, is accessible to large vessels, which can
here anchor in depths of from four to eight fathoms of water.

Pemba.

Pemba, third member of this insular group, has a superficial area of about 380
square miles. But although it is thus fully two- thirds the size of Zanzibar, its
population scarcely exceeded op, 000 in the j'ear 1898. Yet the .soil is everywhere
fertile to the summits of the cliffs, and it often takes the name of the " Green," or
the "Vegetable Island," from its rich and productive vegetation. Its products
are the same as those of Zanzibar, including both cloves and the cocoanut, which

884

SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

the great Arab landed proprietors export to the markets of the neighbouring

city.

Shaki-S/iaki, capital of Pemba, lies on the west side, near the head of a creek

inaccessible to shipping at low water.
Fig. 102.— Pejqa.
Scnip I : sno.ooo.

^- - 3 '4 • •

Even small craft have to wait for
the flow before venturing to pene-
trate up the inlet. On the other
hand the port of Kishi-Emhi,
towards the north-west extremity of
the island, is deep enough to accom-
modate large vessels, which might
here ride at anchor in perfect safety.
But the narrow and dangerous chan-
nel through which it communicates
with the sea has not yet been buoyed.
The head of the Arab aristocracy in
Pemba, a vassal rather than a sub-
ject of the Sultan of Zanzibar, has
his residence at Kishi-Kashi. The
slaves, forming one-half the popu-
lation, were all emancipated in 1897.

Administration of Zaxzib.\r.

As regulated by the treaty of
1890, the authority of the Sultan
(properly Seyyid) of Zanzibar is
now restricted to the two islands of
Zanzibar and Pemba, to which the
British protectorate is extended. In
1891 a regular government was
constituted under Sir L. Mathews
as Prime Minister. Since then all
accounts are kept in English and
Arabic, and are always open to the
inspection of the British Consul-
General, without w'hose consent no
new imdertaking or additional ex-
penditure can be incurred. In 1892
the city of Zanzibar was declared a
free port, subject to special regulations for the importation of spirits, arms, powder,
and mineral oils. At the same time the Sultan's privy purse was fixed at 120,000
rupees, and the rest of the revenue — raised chiefly from customs and taxes on
produce — devoted to the charges for police, harbour improvements and public

iQ'sr EastofG-e

5Q'50'

Oto32
Feet.

Dcptlw.

32to6i0
Feet.

640 Feet and
upwards.

IS Miles.

ADMINISTRATION OP ZANZIBAR. 335

works. Including the police, there is a regular army of about 900 men under an
English officer.

Justice is administered amongst the natives by Kazis or "Judges," from
whom there is the right of appeal to the Sultan. The foreign consids have juris-
diction over their respective subjects, while by the Declaration of December, 1892,
the Sultan has delegated to the British Agent and Consul-General the right to
hear all cases in which a British subject is plaintiff and the defendant a subject
of Zanzibar. Most of the civil cases are heard by the British Court, from which
there is appeal to the Bombay High Court. But in 1899 the whole of the Euro-
pean population subject to these British and Consular tribunals scarcely exceeded
200, including about 50 Englishmen and 50 Germans.

CHAPTER XI.

BRITISH EAST AFRICA.
The East Africa Protector.\te.

INCE the road was opened to missionary and commercial enterprise
in East Africa by Stanley's visit to King Mtesa, in 1876, events
have passed so rapidly in that region that the political and even
the geographical nomenclature have become confused. It should,
therefore, be explained that the vast domain which is now covered
by the semi-official expression " British East Africa," and has an area of certainly
over 1,000,000 square miles, with a population approximately estimated at
13,000,000 or 14,000,000, comprises, since 1805, two distinct administrative
divisions — The Uganda Protectorate and The East Africa Protectorate. The
former, lying mainly within the Nile Basin, will be more conveniently treated in
the volume devoted to that hydrographic section of the continent. The present
chapter will, therefore, be mainly confined to that portion of the eastern sea-
board and neighbouring plateau, which drains to the Indian Ocean, and con-
stitutes the East Africa Protectorate. With it will also be included the Kilima-
Njaro maxsif, which lies just within the German frontier, but belongs to the
orographic system of British East Africa.

As constituted in 1895, when the Imperial British East Africa Company
surrendered all its sovereign rights, this protectorate occupies the whole region
stretching from German East Africa northwards to the river Juba, which, for most
of its course, forms the frontier towards Italian and Abyssinian Somaliland. From
its base on the coast between the TJmba and Juba it stretches for about 400 miles
inland to the iU-defined borders of the Uganda Protectorate, and thus includes,
besides the fertile but malarious coastland, the breezy plateau above which rise
the snowy summits of Kilima-Njaro and Kenia, and the great rift flooded by
Lakes Naivasha and Baringo, and extending northwards in the direction of Lakes
Rudolf and Stefanie. Much of the territory is still unorganised, and no
estimate can be given of its extent, which maj', perhaps, exceed 300,000 square
miles, with a population in 1889 of about 2,500,000.

BRITISH EAST APEICA.

337

Politically, the possession of the seaboard between SomalUand and Zanzibar
is of great prospective importance for the security of the British domain both in
East Africa and in the Far East. As soon as a junction is effected between the
Nile Valley and the Uganda railways, an alternative overland route to India will

Fig. T03. — Chiep Routes of Exploeebs in the Kiuma-Njaeo Reoion.
Scale 1 : 6,000,000.

O'S;^--,

>.x

^ir-r». — ■■'■ ..^: — .-

JX.

East cF Ci

ireen wi ch

120 Miles.

be available, which may prove of vital consequence should the Suez Canal be
blocked during a general war. In such an event the communications could be
kept open by the continuous line of railway running from the Mediterranean up
the Nile and round the Abyssinian Highlands to the Indian Ocean at Mombasa.

AFRICA IV.

838

SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

Physical Featires.

Fig. 104. — Line of Volcanic Faitlt,
Masai Land.

Scale 1 : 7,600,000.

In 1885 the trader and explorer, Fischer, skirted the east foot of the dividing
range towards the Victoria Nyanza basin, and found that this range, forming the

outer scarp of a plateau, runs with great regu-
larity in the direction from south to north.
This long line of cliffs, rising abruptly above
the plain, very probably represents the ancient
shore-line of a now vanished inland sea, of
which nothing remains except a system of
stagnant waters, lakes, and saline wastes,
covering a large space at the foot of the
escarpments. The volcanic cones occurring
at intervals along the edge of the plateau are
the flues of the underground fires fomierlj'
fed by the chemical ingredients which were
elaborated in the depths below the bed of
this extensive lacustrine basin. The still
flooded depressions, mainly disposed in the
same direction from north to south, stand far
below the level of the rim of the tableland,
which has a mean elevation of about 6,500
feet above the sea, whereas one of these de-
pressions rises scarcely more than 2,000 feet
above that level. A sort of trough or deep
lacustrine cavity, with no present outflow,
if m " thus separates the elevated western plateau

* ' ' from the raised platform on which stand

the great igneous masses of Kilima-Xjaro,
Kenia, and their associates.

So far as is at present known, the chain of
lakes temiiimtcs southwards in the saline
Manyara and Eyasi basins, first explored in
1892 by Dr. Oscar Baumann. Some 60 miles
north of these " natron lakes " lies another,
which is commanded on the south side by
the extinct volcano bearing the name of
Dunye-Ngai, or "Heavenly Mountain" (7,200 feet), and on the east by
the imposing Mount Gelei, nearly twice as high (14,000 feet). The " Minaret,''
as the terminal cone of Dunye-^Ngai is called, is said to constantly emit
smoke, the summit being wrapped in a dark vapoury cloud, even in the fairest
weather. The rumbling of the imderground thunders is continually heard like

120 Miles.

VOLCANOES. 339

the roll of distant artillery. No lavas, however, are discharged, although the
vapours floating round the peak have a ruddy hue during the night. At the foot
of the mountain, and along the margin of the lake, thermal waters hubble up at a
temperature hot enough for the caravan people to cook their food in.

Northwards stretches a boundless saline steppe, maintaining in unbroken
monotony the dsad level formerly produced by the lacustrine alluvial deposits.
This is the dreary Dogilani wilderness, which is everywhere strewn with fragments
of obsidian resembling broken pieces of glass bottles. "Westwards rise the blackish
escarpments of the plateau, which here takes the name of Mau, while on the
opposite side the plains are skirted by the no less imposing rocky walls of the Kapte
and KilujTi tablelands. In the midst of these rugged ramparts are developed
numerous bays or inlets, where the bed of the long dried-up basin contrasts sharply
with the rich verdure of the headlands. Here also the regular line of cliffs
forming the scarp of the plateau is broken by magnificent igneous cones, con-
spicuous amongst which is the Dunye la-Nyuki, largest and southernmost of the
group. Seen from a distance this volcano appears to terminate in a great crater, one
side of which has been blown away and in the centre of which has risen a secondary
cone encircled as by a wall or embankment by the southern half of the crater rim.
Farther north stands out the lofty Dunye Longonok, or " Mountain of the Big
Pit," ascended in 1884 by Joseph Thomson, who on reaching the top found him-
self on the sharp rim of an enormous pit, apparently from 1,500 to 2,000 feet
deep. " It was not, however, an inverted cone, as volcanic craters frequently are,
but a great circular cavity with perfectly perpendicular walls, and about three
miles in circumference, without a break in any part, though on the south-western
side rose a peak several hundred feet above the general level of the rim. So perpen-
dicular were the enclosing walls, that immediately in front of me I could not trace
the descent owing to a slight angle near the top. So sharp also was the edge of this
marvellous crater, that I literally sat astride on it, with one leg dangling over the
abyss internally, and the other down the side of the mountain. The bottom of the
pit seemed to be quite even and level, covered with acacia trees, the tops of which
at that great depth had much the general aspect of a grass plain. There were no
bushes or creepers to cover in the stern and forbidding walls, which were com-
posed of beds of lava and conglomerate. The scene was of such an astounding
character that I was completely fascinated, and felt under an almost irresistible
impulse madly to plunge into the fearfid chasm. Looking towards the north, the
first sight that riveted my gaze was the glimmering, many-isled expanse of
Naivasha, backed to the west by the ifau escarpment. To the east rose abruptly
the plateau which we had so recently left, and over the bamboo-clad heights of
Mianzi-ni could be seen the higher masses of a splendid range of mountains. To
the south stretched the desert of Dogilani, with the less perfect but larger crater
mass of Donye la-Nyuki. ily observations indicated a height of 8,300 feet ; the
highest point, however, woidd be little short of 9,000 feet." *

The natives assured the explorer that the great pit is inhabited by snakes of

* Through Masaiiand, p. 332.

840

SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

enormous dimensions. They also speak of another remarkable pit in the neighbour-
hood, in which animals are immediately suffocated if by any chance they happen
to fall into it. This is doubtless due to an emanation of carbonic acid gas.

Lake Naivasha.

Lake Naivasha, also first explored by Thomson, is a shallow island-studded
basin standing at an elevation of about 6,000 feet above the sea. It has no outflow,

Fig. 105. — Region between Zanzibab and T.aitr Ntajjza.

Scale 1 : 10,000.000.

55-

Fast cF Greenwich

40-

240 Miles.

evaporation balancing the contributions of several small affluents ; yet its waters
arc sweet, which seems to indicate that this lacustrine basin is of recent origin.
Its formation may perhaps be due to the damming up of the fluvial vallej" by some
eruptions of lavas and ashes accumulating on the north and east sides and sepa-
rating the plain from the Upper Tana basin. In this reservoir there are no fish,
which have probably been destroyed by the escape of mephitic gases.

The underground forces elsewhere quiescent or extinct, are still active in the
district to the north-east of Naivasha. Here rises'the Dtmye Buru, or '•' Steam

LAKES BAEINGO AND EUDOLF. 341

Mountain " nearly 9,000 feet high, which is pierced by " steam-holes," from which
at short intervals and with remarkable regularity are puffed or hissed out clouds of
vapour, accompanied sometimes by a gurgling sometimes by a rumbling noise. The
Masai approach these orifices with superstitious awe, casting in tufts of grass in
order to propitiate the troubled spirits of the earth. They also collect the crimson-
red clay of the rock decomposing through the action of the steam, and smear
themselves all over with this ochre, which is supposed to have much virtue in
conjuring the adverse fates. The mountain, on which the vent-holes have fre-
quently been displaced, no longer preserves the typical form of a volcano. The
numerous cones which have successively broken out and again subsided in close
proximity to each other, have at last been merged in a single irregidar mass.

Farther north, the depression the deepest part of which is occupied by the
Naivasha ba.sin, is bounded by a hilly plain where the bosses of eruptive scoriae
have also become intermingled in a confused mass. All these formations are more-
over broken into polygonal sections by numerous lines of faults or fissures. These
are disposed with such regularity that in many places the effect is produced of the
moats and ramparts of fortified lines. In all the cavities are seen the skeletons of
thousands of dead trees, killed by some unknown cause, possibly by some eruption
of mephitic gases, or rather, as Thomson suggests, through the decrease of the
rainfall brought about by the slow modifications of the climate.

Lakes Baringo, Rudolf, and Stefanie.

Beyond this desolate region of bare rocks and crevasses, the depressions of the
vaUey are flooded by other lakes, such as Elmeteita and Nakuro. Seen from a dis-
tance extensive tracts along the margin of Elmeteita seem to be diffused by a pinky
glow, an effect caused by the multitudes of flamingoes frequenting these waters. A
little to the north of the circular saline basin of Lake Nakuro, a small stream flow-
ing northwards in the same direction as the general line of faidt which skirts the
western waterparting, winds between the two parallel plateaux as far as the
southern extremity of Baringo or M baringo. Since the time of Speke's expedition
this sheet of water was supposed to form the north-east gulf or inlet of Victoria
Nyanza ; but it is now known to be completely isolated^ occupying a closed basin
about 200 square miles in superficial area. Yet although it has no visible outlet,
its waters are perfectly fresh, without the least trace of salinity and teeming with
animal life. Thomson, the first European by whom it has been visited, expresses
his surprise that it does not increase in volume, receiving as it does considerable
contributions all the year roimd, even during the dry season.

North of Baringo the line of fault, called by Dr. Gregory the " Great Rift
Valley," is still continued in the same northerly direction to the great Samburu
(Zamburu) depression, which lies about 300 miles north-east of Victoria Nyanza.
This vast basin was first reached in 1887 by Count Teleki, who found it flooded
by one very large lake and another much smaller a little farther to the north-

842

SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

west, which he named Lakes Rudolf and Stefanie. Rudolf is a long, narrow sheet
of water disposed north and south in a line with the main axis of the Rift, and is
160 miles long by 20 broad, with an area of 3,000 square miles. It stands not
more than 1,312 feet above sea-level, and has consequently no outflow either to
the Nile or the Juba basins. But at its northern extremity it receives a large
tributary from the South Abyssinian (Galla) highlands, which, ^fter giving rise

Fig. 106. — Lacusteete Reoiox West of Mount Kenia.
Scale 1 : 2,000,000

a A X, X. Ji

.0*

Last of Greenwich

30 Miles.

to much discussion, was at last identified with the River Omo by Captain Wellby,
who visited the lake in 1899. This traveller, after surveying parts of the lacus-
trine depression, struck west for about 130 miles across the great Karamojo plains,
and then north to the fort of Nasser on the Sobat tributary of the Nile, and so on
down to Khartum. Thus was for the first time traversed in its entire length the
hitherto unknown region between Rudolf and the White Nile, which lies alto-

USAMBAEA MOUNTAINS.

343

gether within British territory, and is described by Captain Wellby as " a fine
country, well wooded and abounding in game." It consists of a succession of
well-watered valleys and ranges of hills running north and south.*

TTSAMBARA AND BuRA MOUNTAINS.

East of the great volcanic fissure containing the flooded depressions of the salt
and fresh water lakes which follow in a long line from Manyara to Rudolf, the
whole land, apart from a few scattered salines, belongs to the oceanic area of
drainage. Even the western slope of Kilima-Njaro, turned towards the interior
of the continent, sends some of its waters to the rivers flowing eastward to the
Indian Ocean. But this is a very rugged mountainous region, and in immediate

Fig. 107.— KiLotA-NjAEO AND Ntika Uplands.

ScaJe 1 : 3,000,000.

Js..

MfAas/i^ ^J * j

East oF ljf-een\Mch

AlfKl/ibas!

, 60 MUes.

proximity to the coast begin the heights which rise continually higher and higher
until in the mighty Kilima-Njaro they at last penetrate beyond the line of per-
petual snows. The first hills visible from the sea are the Usambara uplands, an
almost isolated granitic mass, with mostly rounded crests, some of which attain an
altitude of 5,000 feet. From the town of Bulua, which crowns one of these crests,
a view is stiU commanded of the seaboard 60 miles distant, with its fringe of
verdant vegetation and broken line of gulfs and headlands.

These uplands are followed towards the north-west by the Pare range, bej'ond
which the horizon is broken by the Ugono ridge, dominating on the west the
charming Lake Jipe, iind north of which towers the imposing mass of the giant of
African mountains. On the continually ascending plains, which extend from the
coast at Mombasa towards Kilima-Njaro, the surface is stre^NTi with granite
eminences from 4,000 to 5,000 feet, which in several places are disposed in the
form of regular ranges. Such peaks as Kilibasi, or Kilimabasi, that is, the

- Geographical Journal, Sept., 1899, p. 319. The explorer had some strange experiences in the
Walamo district, said by native report to be " demon-haunted."

844

SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

" Solitary Mountain," the truncated cone of Kasigao, and Maungu with its half
ruined crater, stand out in complete isolation like reefs or rocky islets in the
midst of the sea. But Mount Ndara, called also Kilima-Kiburu, that is, the
" Great Mountain," lying due west of Maungu, is flanked by a nimiber of less
elevated crests, giving to the whole group the aspect of a short but continuous
chain. Still farther west the plain stretching away towards Kilima-Njaro is
dominated by a somewhat similar but more extensive group bearing the collective
name of the Bura Mountains. But on every side — north south, east and west —

Fig. 108.— K1LIHA.-NJAB0.

Scale 1 : 130,000.

5?-30'

East oF Gree*iwic>i

IS Miles.

all these secondary heights, whether isolated or grouped in clusters, disappear at
some distance from Kilima-Njaro, leaving the monarch of African mountains to
stand out in solitary grandeur.

Kilim.\-Njaro.

Kilima-I^jaro, that is, the " White Mountain," as explained by Thomson, or
more probably the " Demon's Mountain,"* as interpreted by Johnston, attains an
altitude estimated at from 18,800 to nearly 20,000 feet, t It thus exceeds the

* From Kilima, Mountain, and Njaro, the name of a demon supposed to cause cold. But this name,
current amongst the coast people, is quite unknown to the natives of the interior,
t Meyer, 19,500; Thomson, 19,800.

KILIMANJAEO. 345

Kameroons bv about 5,000, and the Abyssinian Simen by 3,700 feet. It is also
much loftier than Mount Wosha of Gallaland, to which Antoine d'Abbadie assigns
an altitude of 16,400 feet, and has no other rival on the African continent except,
perhaps, Mounts Kenia and Ruwenzori, which may exceed 19,000 or even 20,000
feet. Nevertheless Kilima-Njaro does not appear to have been known to the
ancients, unless it was included in one of their numerous " Mountains of the
Moon." The first mention made of it, evidently from the reports of the Portu-
guese visitors to Mombasa, is due to the Spanish geographer, Encizo, who calls it
the " Ethiopian Olympus," adding that it is rich in gold, inhabited by wild boars
and by people who eat locusts.

The missionary Rebmann first of modern explorers beheld the superb mountain
with its glittering snowy crest in the year 1848. But some erudite geographers,
such as Desborough Cooley, having already mapped out an inland Africa from
their inner consciousness, immediately questioned this discovery, and suggested
that Rebmann must have been the victim of some mirage or other hallucination.
Nevertheless Rebmann's report was confirmed the next year by Krapf, another
missionary, who after crossing the Bura range penetrated to the very foot of the
great mountain. A farther advance was made in 1861 and 1862, when the
explorers Yon der Decken and Thornton scaled its southern slopes to a height of
about 10,500 feet, although still far below the lower level of the perpetual snows.

Since then Kilima-Njaro has been visited by New, Fischer, Thomson, and
especially Johnston and Meyer. Johnston spent six months on its southern
slopes studying its natural history, and exploring its upper parts to within a short
distance of its crest ; while Meyer, after five days of ascent, succeeded in 1887 in
reaching the highest summit, close to the rim of the crater itself ; but he found it
impossible to scale an icy pinnacle which rose about 150 feet still higher. The
mountain cannot fail henceforth to become one of the chief centres of attraction
for African travellers, for it has now been included within the limits of the
German possessions. It has already been connected with Mombasa, Bagamoyo, and
the other ports on the east coast, if not by easy highways of communication, at
least by well-beaten tracts and stations where travellers may renew their supplies.

This huge volcanic mass is no less than 60 miles long from east to west, and
about 50 in the transverse direction, with a total periphery of at least 160 miles.
It is thus twice the size of Etna, whose lower slopes are still vast enough to
support a population of over three hundred and twenty thousand inhabitants.
Kilima-Njaro consists in reality of two distinct volcanoes connected together by
an elevated saddle-back. The central dome and culminating point, falling veiy
little if at aU short of 19,000 feet, takes the name of Kibo, while Kimawenzi, the
lesser cone, attains an altitude of 16,250 feet. But when seen from the east foot,
the loftier summit is completely masked by the sharp peak of Kimawenzi. On
the north, west, and east sides the entire mass slopes regxdarly up to the higher
escarpments. But on the south side numerous igneous cones have been oi^ened
near the base of the twin peaks, and the eruptive rocks that have been discharged
from these cones have gradually developed a broad terrace with a mean elevation

810 SOUTH ^VND EAST ^VFRICA.

of from 4,000 to 6,000 feet, which has been carved into parallel sections by the
running waters, and which gradually merges in the surrounding plains. This
vast sustaining platform, which projects some 12 miles beyond the normal slope
of the volcano, constitutes the Chaga country, the only fertile and inhabited part
of the whole clump of mountains.

The snow rests througliout the year on both crests of Kilima-^jaro, either in
a uniform mass, or in streaks and patches. From season to season, almost from
day to day, and even during the dry period, the aspect of the upper slopes under-
goes continual change, due to the alternate expansion and decrease of the snow-
fields. Formerly the coast people supposed that this snow-white mantle, glittering
in the tropical sun, was a solid mass of silver, and expeditions were frequently
organised to scale the escarpments of the mountain in search of the precious metal,
which when reached melted into water at the touch of their profane hands. The
snows usuallj' descend lowest in the month of October, especially on the western
slopes, where they stand at the level of about 14,000 feet above the sea ; in July
and August they recede nearest to the summit of both cones. The ascent of the
mountain, at all times extremely difficult, is most easily performed during the
snowy months, because at that time there is less fog, and, strange as it may seem,
the cold is then less intense. The summits are seldom altogether free from clouds
or mist. But when the snow-capped dome is seen glittering in the sun high
above the lower fogs, it appears all the more magnificent that it seems entirely
severed from the earth by the intervening oceans of vapours. Then it is indeed
the Ngaje Ngai, or " House of God," as the Masai call it. They also give it the
more simple title of Duny^ Ebor, or " "WTiite Mountain."

The Njiri Plain.

The opposite slopes of Kilima-Njaro present a most remarkable contrast in
their general appearance. All the streams which take their rise amid tlie snows
of the higher regions flow exclusively down the southern fluiks of the mountain.
A few torrents have no doubt their sources on the east and west sides, but these
sources are all situated about the base, so that here the upper slopes are destitute
of running waters, while the northern flanks are everj-where perfectly dry on the
surface. It is watered by no streams. Hence the Njiri plain, which on this side
stretches along the foot of the mountain, is a complete desert, although a few
springs are seen bubbling up here and there. These springs, which flow to the
surrounding lagoons and saline reservoirs, are evidently themselves fed by under-
ground streams concealed amid the ashes and scoriae of the volcano.

The Njiri reservoirs are not the only closed basins occurring round about the
periphery of Kilima-Njaro. One of these basins lying at its south-east foot, and
known as Lake Chala, is a flooded igneous crater, whose almost vertical walls of
scoriae are encircled on the summit by a garland of verdure. Its waters are sweet
and transparent. The Masai have a tradition that the lake was formed during a
Vdolent eruption, during which one of their villages disappeared ; and, as in so

KILIMA-NJARO. 317

many other volcanic regions^ they fancy they still occasionally hear the bello\nng
Fig. 109. — KxBO, Westeen Peak of Kiuma-Njabo.

of the cattle, the bleating of the sheep, and the shouts of the herdsmen rising like

348 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

a distant echo from the depths of the abyss. This iUusion is, with great probability,
attributed by Wray to the confused noise of the flocks of aquatic birds rever-
berating from side to side of the walls of the basin.

MOERU AND UlU MOUNTAINS.

West and north-west of the central mass the sustaining platform bears several
other eminences of igneous origin, and some of these also attain considerable
elevations. Conspicuous amongst these is Mount Moeru, which is separated from
Kilima-Njaro by the level Sigirari plain, whose mean altitude is fuUy 4,000 feet
above the sea. Moeru maj' almost be regarded as a rival of Kilima-Njaro itself,
for its terminal cone is considerably over 16,000 feet high, and even in the month
of July slight streaks of snow are occasionallj' observed on its summit in the early
dawn, which, however, are soon dissipated by the raj^s of the rising sun. At most
other times, when the volcanic peak shakes off the mantle of fleecy clouds in which
it is usually wrapped, it is seen standing out dark against the azure sky. It thus
presents a striking contrast to the white-crested Kibo and Kimawenzi, and has
accordingly received from the Masai people the distinctive title of Dunye Erok la
Sigirari, that is, the "Black Mountain," of Sigirari. But it is not the only
Dunye Erok in this region, for several other " Black Mountains " raise their
isolated pyramidal cones above the plateau to the north-west of Kilima-Njaro, one
of them attaining an altitude of no less than 13,000 feet.

The eminences rising above the rugged uplands stretching north of Kilima-
Njaro present in many places the aspect of veritable mountain ranges. The
Kiulu and TJlu mountains, both of which send affluents to the Sabaki, constitute a
long chain disposed first in the direction from south-east to north-west, and then
trending due north parallel with the escarpments which skirt the east and west
sides of the crevassed waterparting. The northern extremity of the Ulu range
points precisely in the direction of Mount Kenia, which takes rank with Kilima-
Njaro as amongst the loftiest mountains in the continent. Owing to the gentle
slope of its flanks, Kenia covers an extensive superficial area. Its lava streams have
been discharged on an incHne of not more than ten or twelve degrees down to the
base of the mountain, which rests on a platform with a mean altitude of about
5,500 feet above the sea.

Mount Kenia.

From the centre of this blackish platform rises the highest peak, a regular
pyramid considerably over 3,000 feet high, and so steep in several places that
the snow is unable to lodge on the rocky ground. The cone is rather of a grejash
than a white colour, whence its Masai name, Dunge Egere, or " Grey Mountain,"
although, according to Von der Decken, it is also known as the "White Mountain."
Kenia lies nearly 200 miles farther north than Kilima-Njaro, the line of the
equator crossing its slopes north of the central peak. Nevertheless the climatic

MOUNT ELGON. 349

conditions are much the same as those of its southern rival. Like it, the Grey-
Mountain is also frequently wrapped in fogs, being usually shrouded in mists
during the greater part of the day, unrobing itself only in the evening at the hour
of the setting suu, or else at dawn when struck by the first solar rays.

The existence of Kenia was unknown in Europe before the year 1849, when it
was first mentioned by the missionary, Krapf ; but no traveller has yet succeeded
in climbing the slopes of this volcano, although several attempts have been made
by Dr. Gregory, Dr. Kolb, and others in 1894-98. Like Kilima-Njaro, Kenia dis-
charges much more water by its southern valleys than on the other slopes of its
vast periphery.

Mount Elgon and its Caves.

West of Kenia other mountain masses, ranges, or isolated eminences, follow in
continuous succession as far as the shores of Victoria Nyanza and the banks of
the Nile. A chain of lofty mountains, to which Thomson has given the name of
Aberdare, runs south-east and north-west in the same direction as the general
axis of all the uplands in Masailand. Lake Baringo is also dominated by some
elevated heights, which rise above both sides of the great volcanic fissure. Lastly,
to the north-east of Victoria Nyanza appears the superb cone of Mount Elgon or
Ligonyi, which has an altitude of no less than 14,000 feet, and which, like most
of the isolated mountains of this region, is an extinct volcano. In the tuifa sides
of this mountain deep caves or pits were found, which seemed to be at least partly
the work of man. One of these pits, examined by Thomson, was found to be 30
feet deep, 100 feet long, and about 20 broad, apparently cut out of a volcanic
agglomerate of great compactness. " In the centre of this pit, or (as it may have
been) mouth of a cave, stood several cows, and a number of the usual beehive
arrangements for storing grain. On the side opposite me were the openings of
several huts, which were built in chambers out of sight, and which only showed
the doorways, like the entrances to a dovecot. In and out of these were children
running in a fashion thoroughly suggestive of the lower animals, especially as
seen in the midst of their strange surroundings. On inquiring as to who made
this curious excavation, I was told that it was God's work. ' How,' said they,
' could we with our pxmy implements ' (exhibiting a toy -like axe, their only non-
warlike instrument), 'cut out a hole like this? And this is nothing in com-
parison with others which you may see all round the mountain. See there, aud
there, and there ! These are of such great size that they penetrate far into utter
darkness, and even we have not seen the end of them. In some there are large
villages with entire herds of cattle. And j'et you ask who made them ! They are
God's work.'

" There was absolutely no tradition regarding these caves among the people.
' Our fathers lived here, and their fathers did the same,' was the invariable
repl}- to all my questions. Clearly there was no clue in that direction. And 5'et
the caves bore incontestable evidence on the face of them that they had neither

850 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

a natural nor supernatural origin. They must have been excavated by the hand
of man. That such prodigious excavations in extremely solid rock, extending
away into complete darkness, branching out in various directions, and from 12 to
15 feet from floor to ceiling, were formed as dwelling-places, or even as strong-
holds, is simply absurd. For natives such as those of the present day to have cut
out even one cave would have been a sheer impossibility, with the tools they
possess. But there are not merely one or two excavations. There are surprising
numbers of them — sufficient indeed to house a whole tribe, as I am informed that
they extend all round the mountain.

"There is one point of great interest as tending to throw some light on the sub-
ject. The caves all occupj' a certain horizon or level of the mountain, and all
occur in the compact agglomerate, none in the level beds immediatelj' over-
head." *

But since Thomson's time the district has been visited and thorougblj' explored
by several travellers, such as Mr. Jackson in 1890, and Mr. Ilobley in 189G, all of
whom are satisfied that the caves are the work, not of man, but of nature. Elgon
was first ascended by Mr. Jackson, as far as the rim of the crater, which appeared
to be within about 50 feet of the highest peak, or a little over 14,000 feet above
the sea level. From the summit a superb view is commanded of Chibcharagnani
(10,000 feet) on the east, and of the Suk highlands, bounding the horizon on the
north-east, in the direction of Lake Hudolf.

The Paxga>i and Tana Eivers.

The Pangani River, whose lower course reaches the coast between the islands
of Pemba and Zanzibar, receives its first supplies from Mounts Moeru and
Kilima-Xjaro. Of all these mountain torrents the easternmost is the Lumi,
which rises at the foot of Kimawenzi, and flows at first southward to the elongated
basin of Lake Jipe at the foot of the Ugono escarpments. This basin stands at an
elevation of no more than 2,400 feet, nevertheless the plain stretching south of
the Kilima-Kjaro terraces lies at a still lower level, for an emissary flowing from
the lake immediately to the west of the Lumi influent trends north-westwards in
the direction of the foot of the movmtain itself. After its confluence with the
Ruvu (Ru-Yu), and several other torrents, this emissary from the lake is already
a river of considerable volume. Fischer found that it was nearly 350 feet broad,
with a depth of over 3 feet. Farther down the stream, which here receives
scarcely any tributaries, flows southwards and then to the south-east, forcing its
way over a series of falls and rapids through the rocky barriers which run trans-
versely to its course. It continues to be obstructed by other falls down to the
lower reaches, so that the Pangani becomes navigable only within some 24 miles
of the coast, where its channel is confined by two elevated terraces of coralline
formation.

• T/>roii<ih Mtaailaiul, f. 5\0.

THE TAXA EIVEE. 351

Tw 0 other large rivers of this region have their sources in the upland valleys
of mountains in the western parts of the plateau. The SabJiki, or " Forest River,"
receives one of its affluents, the Tsavo, from the slopes of Kilima-Njaro, whereas
its chief headstreams take their rise in the Kiulu and Ulu ranges, and farther
north in the chain skirting the plateau near Lake Kaivasha. The Tana (Dana)
which has now been explored from source to mouth, also rises in the same border
range, whence it here takes the name of Kilama-nsi, or " River of the Mountain."
But the Tana does not become a considerable stream till it penetrates south of
Mount Kenia, from the southera flanks of which it receives the contributions of
numerous torrents.

North of this region flow some other copious rivers, one of which, the TJruru,
that is to say, " Thunder," has been so named from a tremendous cascade visited
by Thomson, and by him described as plunging down several hundred feet without
a break into a fearftd gloomy gorge. The Ururu and the other streams which
flow to the north-west and north of Mount Kenia, converge in a single channel to
form the Gwaso n'Erok, or " Black River," but east of Kenia the farther course
of this river is still unexplored, and it is uncertain whether it continues to flow
eastwards in the direction of the Juba, or bends roimd to the south-east to form a
junction with the Tana. At Massa, the highest point of the valley where it was
observed by the brothers Denhardt, the Tana is a stream averaging about 160 feet
in breadth, with a rapid current exceeding three and a half miles an hour. Its
depth varies from 12 to over 30 feet, and it is obstructed only by a small number of
sandbanks covered by at least 3 feet of water.

Like most other rivers in this part of the continent, the Tana receives no
affluents along its lower course. On the contrary, it here overflows its banks to
the right and left during its two annual floods, forming temporary morasses and
lagoons, which spread out beyond the horizon on the low-lying plains. The
riverain populations have raised along the river low embankments scarcely more
than three feet high, which are pierced at intervals by irrigating rills ramifj-ing
amid the surrounding ricefields. "WTien the waters subside in the mainstream, the
overflow retires from the lagoons through these channels back to the Tana. Some
of'these channels, gradually deepened by the current, become navigable streams, com-
municating from opening to opening along the meauderiags of the Tana, which itself
occasionally shifts its bed and flows bodily into one or other of the lateral streams.

As it approaches the coast the Tana bifurcates, the Mto Tana, or chief branch
flowing southwards to Ungana Bay, the Bahia Formosa of the Portuguese, while
the other, merely a shallow passage, merges eastwards in the estuarj' of the Ozi,
that is, the " Black River " of the Gallas. The Belezoni, or Belondsoni, as this
eastern branch is called, would soon be obstructed by the reeds, were it not kej^t
open by the riverain people, who are able to navigate it with their light craft. In
some places it is scarcelj' more than three feet from bank to bank, and is crossed
at a bound by the natives. Nevertheless the Belezoni might easily be transformed
to a broad na-\agable channel, by simply dredging and cutting through the soft
alluvial soil of the surrounding plain.

862 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

By taking advantage of the general lie of the land, the Tana itself might it the
same way be connected with the lower course of two other rivers, the Kifili and the
Sabaki, which reach the coast more to the south. The natives are unanimous in
asserting that during the periodical inundations, its' current traverses the inter-
vening lake and overflows into the southern alluvial tracts, flooding the depressions
to a sufficient depth to allow light craft to pass from one fluvial basin to the other,
keeping to tho inner or land side of the dunes which here fringe the coast. This
transverse navigable waterway is even continued southwards beyond the Sabaki by
lacustrine cavities which are regularly flooded during the rainy season.

Thomson, and later observers have found distinct evidence of upheaval
all along this coast. The corul terrace formations have been raised in some places
from 50 to over 60 feet, and farther inland from 120 to about 200 feet above the
present sea-level. But indications of an opposite phenomenon are said to have
been observed in the neighbouring Tangata inlet. Whether through subsidence of
the ground, or the erosive action of the marine waters, several villages with their
palm-groves have here entirely disappeared.

Flora.

Apart from the mountainous district, the whole region stretching from the
Indian Ocean to the upper Pangani, Sabaki, and Tana fluvial basins may be com-
pared in its general aspect to a uniform carpeted floor over which the running
waters have traced a number of variegated designs. This level floor takes the
name of Nyika, that is to say, "Savage Land," or "Wilderness," lacking sufficient
moisture to support a vigorous tropical vegetation. Here the arid soil produces
little beyond short herbaceous growths, thorny scrub, and here and there a few
stunted trees. Nyika is in fact a true veld, and would certainly have been so
named by the Dutch settlers in South Africa. Its Wanjaka inhabitants suppose
that the rains are the property of the Swaheli people, because they possess the
Koran, that is, the great book of divine magic ; and Krapf tells us that envoys
from the inland tribes were formerly sent to the governor of Mombasa to beg the
favour of a few much-needed showers. But for a space of at least 12 miles in
breadth along the seaboard, the coastlands, being fertilised by the marine vapours,
are clothed with a rich mantle of tropical vegetation. Towards the interior also
the monotonous Nyika plains are interrupted by the highlands which intercept the
moisture-bearing clouds, while the running waters descending from these uplands
support a growth of riverain forests winding in narrow green belts across the
country. The cocoanut-palm, which usually occurs elsewhere only along the
seaboard tracts, here penetrates through the river valleys into the interior as far as
the slopes of the Ndara hills, a distance of some 70 miles from the coast.

The vegetation which encircles the base of Kilima-Njaro to a height of about
3,000 feet, seems all the more beautiful and diversified for the striking contrast
presented by it to the arid and almost waterless wilderness of the Nyika country.
Nevertheless the forest growths of these lower buttresses have scarcely a tropical

FAUNA OF BRITISH EAST AFRICA. 353

aspect, but recall rather the general physiognomy of the woodlands in Wesr
Europe. The vallej's between 3,000 and 6,000 feet are extensively overgrown
with the mum eimete, or wild banana of Abyssinia. The lovely tree-ferns, which
are intermingled with the vegetation of the lower slopes, continue to ascend as
high as the line of 8,000 feet. A few hundred yards higher up they are mostly
replaced by giant heaths of the common erica genus, growing to the size of
taUish trees ; and here also the stems and branches of the trees are densely hung
with mosses, orchilla-lichen, or delicate epiphytic ferns.

An extraordinary composite plant, named from its discoverer senecio Johnstoni,
flourishes in the marshy ground, and sometimes grows to a height of 20 feet.
From a distance it looks somewhat like a banana, with huge broad leaves at the
summit of a slim black trunk, but with yellow flowers like a groundsel, to which
it is allied. Some of these curious plants are met as far up as 14,000 feet, in
regions where the snow lodges in some seasons. Farther up the flowering vegeta-
tion is represented only by some low plants, such as dwarf heathers, bevond which
nothing is seen except red or green lichens, yellowish sands, rocks, and snowfields.
The species of these higher regions are connected on the one hand with those of
Abyssinia, and on the other with the Drakenberg Alpine flora. Johnston also
describes some varieties which show a certain afiinity to the characteristic forms of
tropical Africa, and which appear to have been slowly modified in order gradually
to adapt themselves to the new conditions of life in the higher altitudes. But
two distinct genera seem to be altogether peculiar to Kilima-Njaro, or at least
have hitherto been met nowhere else. On the other hand the superb calodendrous
of the Cape regions, which till recently were supposed to extend no farther north
than Natal, are now known to be common on the slopes both of Kilima-Njaro and
Kenia.

Fauna.

Some species of birds frequenting the Kilima-Njaro woodlands are new to
science, and on the surrounding plains a variety of the ostrich (sfnit/iius danaoides)
hast been discovered which diifers from the common species. Although quad-
rupeds of the mammal order differ in no respects from those of the surrounding
regions, the explorer is surprised to meet certain species at such great altitudes on
the flanks of the mountain. Thus the elephant roams over its valleys and rocks
up to an altitude of over 13,000 feet ; the Hon and the leopard do not range so
high, but are still met as far as 8,000 feet. Monkeys, and especially baboons, are
very numerous. They keep for the most part in the neighbourhood of the plan-
tations, where they live on terms of friendship, or at least of mutual forbearance,
with the natives. The colobus, however, with his magnificent black and white
fur coat, which is much prized as an ornament by the Masai warriors, alwaj-s
carefully shuns the vicinity of human habitations. Sportsmen also occasionally
meet a member of the canine family which diifers from the jackal, but like him is
of nocturnal habits.

AFRICA IV. a a

864 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

The hippopotamus, which was formerly very common in the rivers, has now
withdrawn to the riverain lagoons of the interior. On the plains encircling
Mount Kenia, Thomson observed herds of captured camels among some Galla
tribes. But the Masai people make no use of this animal cither for riding or
transport purposes, reserving it exclusively for the shambles.

The tsetse fly, so fatal to cattle and other domestic animals, infests some of
these districts, whilst others are visited by the dondcrobo, another species of fly,
whose sting is deadly to the ass. A large section of the seaboard, however, is free
from the mosquito scourge.

Inh.\bit.\nts.

Throughout the whole of these regions the populations are distributed in much
the same way as the vegetable species. Thus the Masai warriors and pastors, like
their Galla kinsmen, chiefly roam the herbaceous, scrubby, or arid plains ; while the
forest tracts are occupied by the agricultural Bantu tribes, akin to those of
Austral Africa. These agricultural tribes, although very numerous, have been
frequently obliged to displace themselves in order to avoid the incursions of their
predatory neighbours. Extensive districts had thus been completely wasted, and
the peaceful cultivation of the land rendered impossible by the lawless habits of
the Masai nomads before the establishment of orderly government by the English.

The Bantus, who occupy the southern part of the territory in the vicinity of
the Pangani river, are known to the surrounding peoples by various names. Thus
the Waswaheli call them Washenzi (Wa-Shenzi), that is to say, " Conquered,"
whereas to the Wasambaras of the western uplands they are simply Wabondei
(Wa-Bondei), or " Lowlanders." All, however, are greatly intermingled with
other reduced populations, and merge by imperceptible transitions into the
Mohammedan inhabitants of the coast, who are themselves made up of the most
varied elements.

The 'Was.\mbar.\s.

The "Wasambaras (Wa-Sambara), who occupy the southern highlands, are dis-
tinguished from all their neighbours by several peculiar social customs. The
marriage ceremonies especially are very curious. The bride and bridegroom are
placed in the same cabin with a great fire between them, and then left for five
days without food, beyond a little lukewarm water when they feel faint. On the
fifth day they take a little nourishment, in order to acquire sufficient strength to
join in the wedding procession, which takes the road to the mother-in-law's
dwelling, and which is headed by the bridesmaid, dressed as a man, and armed
with sword and gun.

But these primitive usages are gradually disappearing since regular commercial
relations have been established between the "Wasambaras and the Swaheli. The
Ki-Swaheli language is even becoming the general medium of intercourse amongst

THE "WASAMBAEAS. 356

all these inland tribes. The English missionaries estabKshed at Magila, in the
eastern Usambara highlands, have acquired a fluent knowledge of this idiom,
which they make use of for instructing the Wasambara natives. But Moham-
medanism has penetrated farther into the upland villages, probably because a mere
outward sign suffices to effect a conversion to the faith of Islam. Just as a Moslem
captive becomes ^ pagan by being compelled to eat pork, the pagan is transformed
to a Mussulman by the simple process of having his head shaved.

So early as the year 1848, at the time of the missionary Krapf, two of the
king's sons had been converted to Islam, and had at the same time learnt to read
and write, Mohammedanism and civilisation being considered in this region as
synonymous terms. The king, who bore the title of the " Solitary Lion," had his
harem, in imitation of the sultans on the coast. His wives, of whom there were
several hundred, went veiled like all Moslem women, and no stranger was allowed
access to their %i]lage, which stood on the brow of a hill, surrounded by ehambm, or
gardens cultivated by slaves attached to their several households.

Manv of the local usages were evidently due to Arab influence. Thus four
holy villages had been set apart as places of refuge, and here resided all the native
magicians. No strangers were permitted to enter these places, where the Wasam-
bara or Washenzi murderers and other criminals found a safe retreat. Those who
were fortunate enough to touch the king's garment were also henceforth regarded
as privileged persons. In the same way slaves acquired their freedom by crossing
the threshold of a royal dwelling, but in this case the original seller was obliged to
refund to the last purchaser the price paid for the freed man.

The King of Usambara was a powerful sovereign, who in the time of Krapf
ruled over about half a million Wasambaras, Washenzi, and other tribes. His
territory, which lay between the coast, the valley of the Pangani, and the Pare
Mountains, is one of the most fertile regions in Africa. In the eighties it also
comprised a great part of the Zeguha country on the south side of the river, and
beyond the Pare uplands, but the Wasambara tribes that had penetrated into these
districts had been gradually driven back, and the conterminous peoples had
succeeded in establishing their independence. Some runaway Negro slaves had
also* founded petty republican states in the easily defended forest tracts which
encircle the Usambara highlands.

All the agricultural and pastoral inhabitants of the Usambara state were required
to pay the king an annual tax amounting to one-tenth of their crops and live-
stock, and this tax sufficed to support a considerable export trade in the local
produce, which was forwarded through the neighbouring seaports to Zanzibar, and
even as far as Arabia. All the women of the country were regarded as the personal
property of the sovereign, who may choose whom he will without paying the usual
dowry. Now everything is changed ; there are no slaves, and European justice is
impartially meted out to all aUke.

zaz

856 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

The Waruvus Axn Watavetas.

Between the "Wasjimbaras and Wazeguhas, the islands in the Pangani are
inhabited by the Waruvus (Wa-Ruvu), that is to say, " River People," who con-
stitute a distinct tribe, differing in speech and customs from their neighbours.
These Waruvus had established themselves in their insular strongholds in order
to avoid the attacks of the Masai freebooters, who formerly roamed over the plains
stretching southwards in the direction of Ugogo. Their island retreats were
reached by the shepherds, with their flocks of sheep and goats, by means of
ricketty plankings resting on stems of the dum-palm, while the animals crossed
over by swimming.

The Waruvus are regarded by all the surrounding populations as powerful
fetishmen, very skilful in charming the crocodiles that infest these waters. Hence
the Mohammedan caravan people, not satisfied with invoking Allah against the
rapacious saurians, also appeal to the Waruvu magicians, who throw a potent
"medicine" into the stream and thereby make the reptiles harmless. It is popu-
larly believed that no caravan entrusted to a Waruvu guide has ever met with any
accident in crossing the river. Stories are even told of crocodiles which, after
seizing some domestic animal, dropped it again at the voice of the charmer.

Above Mkaramo the fluvial islands are uninhabited, all the natives of this district
having taken refuge in the mountains. The Wapare (Wa-Pare), pastors and
peasants, stood in such fear of the Masai marauders that they did not even venture
to drive their herds to the pasture lands, but reared them altogether in the
inclosures. Yet, notwithstanding all their precautions, the raiders often succeeded
in carrying them ofl'. The Wagouos (Wa-Gono), who inhabit the uplands which
skirt the west side of Lake Jipe, were less exposed than the peoples of the plains to
the attacks of the Masai hordes.

South-east of Kilima-Njaro, the little Wataveta (Wa-Taveta) community
occupies the narrow zone of woodlands stretching along the banks of the Lu-Mi
River as far as Lake Jipe. Here it has succeeded in maintaining its independence,
protected by the large forest growths of the district. The chief town is further
defended by stout palisades, behind which the natives were able to defy the Masai,
usually armed only with short swords. The Watavetas are related to their northern
and eastern neighbours, the Wachagas and Wateitas (Wa-Chaga, Wa-Teita), and
speak a dialect of the same language. But they are now a very mixed people,
owing to intermingling with Wakwafi families which have sought a refuge in
their midst. Of these Wakwafi strangers, those who have best preserved the
original type are distinguished by more regular features, more prominent cheek-
bones, and a more animated expression than the true Watavetas. Several have
also preserved their national dress ; but with the exception of circumcision, which
is still practised according to the Masai rite, they have adopted all the usages of
their Wataveta hosts. They have settled down as peaceful agriculturists, no
longer prowling about the villages to carry off the women and children, and no
longer making a trade of war, like their Masai kinsmen.

THE WACHAGAS. 357

In general the inhabitants of Taveta are distinguished by their genial, cheerful
disposition, -and the friendly reception they give to all peaceful strangers. Hence
their town is the chief resting-place and revictualling station for caravans journey-
ing backwards and forwards between the coast and Masai Land. In the neighbour-
hood the Swaheli traders have founded a settlement, where they maintain temporary
establishments. • Thanks to these visitors from the coast, the Watavetas have
acquired a considerable degree of instruction, and nearly all speak Ki -Swaheli as
well as their own Bantu dialect. But they have not yet taken to the Arab custom
of wearing clothes. Most of them still go naked, unless, for love of finery or as
a protection against cold, they now and then throw some flowing drapery or
animal's skin across the shoulders.

Before the advent of the Europeans, the tribe was ruled by a council of five
elders, usually chosen from amongst the families of the original Taveta stock.
But the decrees of this council were controlled and often modified by public opinion,
which enjoys much force in the Taveta republic, and which is itself largely regu-
lated by established usage or tradition. The marriage laws are somewhat lax,
while those regulating betrothals are remarkably severe. Once engaged, or only
partly purchased, the young woman ctin no longer go gadding about after dark ;
nor can she converse with any of the opposite sex, not even her future husband, until
the stipulated price in cows or oxen is fuUy paid up. Before the birth of her
first child she displays herself before the dwellings of her female friends, preceded
by a matron, and decked in all her finery : iron-wire, veil, pearls, chains, rings,
and bracelets.

The traditional fimeral rites are also still scrupulously observed. The body is in
the first instance buried in a squatting attitude, one arm resting on the knee and
the head supported by one of the hands. Then, when nothing remains except the
bare bones, the skull is removed — that is, i£ it belonged to the head of a family or to
his principal wife — and transferred to the shelter of a wide-branching dracoena,
which is henceforth charged to protect it against the evil spirits.

. The Wachagas and Wanyikas.

The Wachagas, who were formerly divided into several petty states, inhabit
the volcanic terraces of the Chaga country stretching along the southern slope of
Kilima-Njaro. They speak a distinct Bantu dialect, which shows marked affinities
with that of the Wasambara nation. Muchame, the largest kingdom, was not strong
enough to protect itself against the attack of the Masai raiders who infested
its southern and western borders. Hence large tracts of extremely fertile land,
which might support many hundred thousand inhabitants, have been entirely
abandoned to nature. But however murderous the constant warfare carried on
between the Masai and the Wachagas, the women of both nations were always
mutually respected ; they enjoyed such absolute immunity that they passed freely
backwards and forwards between the hostile tribes, as if perfect peace prevailed
amongst them. The complete isolation of the farmsteads still attests the former

868 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

peaceful habits, which they once more enjoy under their new rukTs. Each family
lives quite apart, occupying a group of cabins amid a thicket of bananas enclosed
by tall hedges or stockades. Hence not much importance can be attached to the
hypothesis of M. Duveyrier, who suggests that the AVachagas of the Kilima-Njaro
heights may possibly be a remnant of the conquering Jaga warriors who overran
the Congo empire in the sixteenth century. The two people have nothing in
common beyond a fanciful resemblance between their respective national designation.

Like the Wasambara monarch, the Wachaga chiefs enjoyed absolute power over
their subjects. All the men were their slaves ; all children bom within their domain
were destined to serve them, and as soon as they had acquired sufficient strength they
were employed for the " works of the king," such as constnicting defensive lines and
irrigating canals, tilling the land, building cabins, and manufacturing arms. All
matrimonial afl'airs were settled by his majesty, who put the wedding ring on the
bride's finger, selected her future lord, and fixed the nuptial day. Unions are far
less premature than amongst most African peoples, and to this circumstance may
probably to a great extent be attributed the fact that the Chaga race is one of the
finest in all Africa. The salubrious climate, their regular agricultural habits and
frugal fare, combined with the excellent qualit)' of the fruits and vegetables, also
tend to give to the Wachagas a decided superiority in health and physical strength
over all their neighbours. They live chiefly on a milk diet, and place pitchers of
milk on the graves of the dead, whereas the people of the plains make offerings of
rice and palm wine to the departed.

The Wachagas, who are skilled agriculturists, raise abundant crops of wheat,
excellent pulse, various vegetables, and bananas of unique quality, rivalled in
flavour only by those of the Seychellc Islands. On the other hand, they have
developed scarcely any industries, being ignorant even of the weaver's art. But
as blacksmiths thej' are unsurpassed, if even equalled, by any people in East
Africa, manufacturing lances, darts, axes, variously ornamented shields of great
artistic merit. They also carry on a brisk trade with the seaboard populations,
from whom they procure clothes and sundry European wares. One of the pro-
minent items of the import trade is the so-called emballa, a kind of alkaline earth
from the southern plains, which they dissolve in water, using the solution as a
substitute for salt in their diet.

Thanks to the absence of the tsetse fly throughout the whole of the Pangani
valley, except on the banks of the Taveta, caravans are able to employ asses as
pack-animals in the transport service between the coast and Chagaland. This is
a point of such \'ital importance that it would necessarily have secured the prefer-
ence for the Pangani route above all the southern highways, but for the fact that
it was always exposed to the attacks of the Masai freebooters. According to the still-
surviving local traditions, the Portuguese formerly visited the interior by following
the Pangani fluvial valley. Towards the beginning of the eighteenth centurj'
some Mohammedan pioneers also settled in the coimtry, where they even founded
a royal dynasty ; but all traces of their social and religious influences have since
been completely effaced.

THE WAXTIKAS.

359

North of the Pangani valley the Bantu race is represented chiefly by the
Wanyikas (Wa-Nyilca), or " People of the Plains," who form a group of about a
dozen distinct tribes. They number altogether perhaps about fifty thousand, and
occupy the whole region which slopes from the Mombasa coast gently upwards to a
height of some 2,000 feet in the interior. The Ki-Nyika language diSers little in

Fig. 110.— Teibes Nokth of the Panoani.

Scale 1 : 6,000,000.

East oF. Grce^'v'cVi

la) iuic-s.

its structure from the Ki-Swaheli, but, unlike it, is entirely free from Arabic
elements. By far the largest Nyika tribe are the agricultural Wadigos (Wa-Digo),
who inhabit the coastlands stretching south of Mombasa, and who alone number
about thirty thousand souls. Another important branch of the family are the
Wadurumas (Wa-Duruma), of whom some knowledge has been acquired through
the English missionaries stationed in their neighbourhood.

8G0 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

Amongst the Wanj-ikas the division of time into four days still prevails, as in
certain West African regions. They worship the sun, and their priests possess
the mwanza, a mj'sterious instrument which is sometimes heard booming through
the forests, but which, according to popular belief, no profane eye can behold
mthout being struck dead on the spot. When thej' reach the period of manhood
the young men have to cut great gashes across their breasts in "order to " renew
their blood," and also to give proof of unflinching courage. Another test was
reserved for the sons of chiefs, who were required to live apart in the forests until
they had " killed their man." After this act of prowess they were allowed to
return to the paternal roof, and were declared worthy of succeeding to the chief
power in the tribe. But this test is now disallowed.

Some Wakambas from the north-west, and Swahelis from the coastlands, as
well as various other immigrants, also dwell amid the Wanyika communities. In
their territory numerous colonies have also been established by the Mohammedans,
whose sheikhs are gradually becoming formidable rivals to the indigenous tribal
chiefs. Besides these strangers the European missionaries have for some years
been ensaged in evanrrelisin" the AVanvika nation. One of their most flourishing
stations is that of Rabai, which was founded about the middle of the present
century by Krapf and Rebmann on an eminence in the neighbourhood of
Mombasa. From the crest of this hill, about 1,000 feet high, the view sweeps
over a vast horizon of plains, reefs, islands, and surf-beaten headlands.

The Teita Mountains, which are crossed by the route leading from Mombasa
to Kilima-Njaro, are also occupied by tribes of Bantu stock, speaking a dialect
closely related to Ki-Swaheli, and according to Rebmann collectively numbering
about a hundred and fifty thousand souls. These AVateitas (Wa-Teita) are con-
stituted in republican communities, wliich, sheltered behind their rock)' fastnesses,
had often repulsed the attacks of the savage Masai marauders. Amongst them
the primitive custom of carrying off the bride by violence still survives in the form
of a pretended abduction. The husband and his friends remove her by a show of
force to his newly erected hut, where both are left shut up for three days without
any food whatever. But the make-believe capture is always preceded by a present
of cattle to her parents, and the number of animals usually demanded on these
occasions is so great, that rich persons alone are able to afford the luxury of a
regular marriage. Owing to the general poverty, many less formal alliances are
consequently contracted, often within close degrees of kinship.

The Teita women enjoy a large share of personal freedom. Whenever she
feels herself in any way aggrieved, the wife may leave her husband without let
or hindrance on his part. The Wateitas burj- their dead in the first instance, but
after several months of interment the body is dug up and the head detached and
placed apart in a sacred grove, where it is regularlj' consulted by the magicians.
Although possessing numerous herds, the Wateitas eat onh' such animals as die of
the cattle-plague.

THE WAPOKOMOS. 361

The Wapokomos and Wakambas.

To the same Bantu stock also belong the tribes dwelling in the districts north
of Mcimbasa, such as the feeble Dakalo people enslaved by the Gallas, and the
Boni and Wasanieh (Wa-Sanieh) groups, "who occupy the shores of Formosa Bay.
But all of these tribes are being gradually merged with the powerful Galla nation,
whose language they have already adopted. Owing probably to this circumstance
the traveller Denhardt regards the Waboni as Gallas rather than Bantus. Farther
north the valley of the Pokomoni or Tana (Dana) river is occupied by the
Wapokomo (Wa-Pokomo) nation, who constitute the northernmost group of
Bantu peoples on the East African seaboard, where they have hitherto succeeded
in preserving their distinct nationality. But along the lower course of the river
they were exposed to so many enemies, Galla and Somali marauders, and oppres-
sive Swaheli tax-gatherers, that they had abandoned all hope of maintaining their
independence before the advent of the English. They were in fact already
practically enslaved, although allowed to remain in their own homes, and not sent
into captivity like so many other native populations.

The branch of the Pokomo nation occup3'ing the upper course of the river
above the alluvial plains have preserved their tribal autonomy, and are still
distinguished by the national virtues of honesty, candour, gentleness, and love of
freedom. No other African people are animated by more friendly feelings towards
strangers, or display an equal degree of kindness and consideration for their guests.
In these respects the brothers Denhardt regard the Pokomos as a model com-
munity. Although at present confined to the banks of the Tana, where they
number from twenty-five to thirty thousand souls, they appear to have originally
come from the north, and their line of migration seems to be indicated by several
geographical names still surviving in the district lying between Kilima-Njaro and
their present domain. According to Krapf, this domain is the cradle of the true
Swaheli race, which was probably driven southwards by the Pokomo tribes advanc-
ing from the north.

Physically the Pokomos compare favourably with the surrounding populations,
being tall and robust, with pleasant and even handsome features. But, like most
of their neighbours, they endeavour to heighten their charms by tattooing the body.
The women also daub themselves with ngo'i, a kind of red ochre brought from
India, which they mix with butter or the fat of wild animals. Neither sex wears
any covering to the head or feet, their v.'hole costume being limited to a cotton loin-
cloth. Circumcision is not universally practised, each clan following in this respect
its own peculiar usages. At the birth of a child the husband must retire, and is
not permitted to return to the conjugal home for fully five naonths after the event.
During the whole of this period the wife is herself confined to the house, and
allowed to go abroad only at night in company with her sisters or other relations.

The children are brought up with the greatest care, and learn to make them-
selves useful from their earliest years. Until their marriage the girls remain
with their mother; but on reaching their twelfth year the boys are subjected to the

862 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

usual rites prelimiuary to the state of manhood, after which all reside together in
one large cabin. Burials are accompanied by a very strict ceremonial, which
varies with the age and sex of the deceased, and every year a national feast is held
in honour of the dead. This feast of " All Souls " is in fact the chief national
solemnitv, and provision is made for the lavish expenditure usual on these occa-
sions by much previous thrift and economy.

The Pokomos are essentially an agricultural people ; all take an equal share in
field operations, and devote their attention especially to the cultivation of rice and
maize. Some of the young men also occupy themselves with fishing and hunting,
but the industrial arts are entirely neglected. They neither spin nor weave, nor
practise metallurgy, but, apart from their huts and boats, import from the coast
people all the manufactured wares of which they stand in need. Their com-
munities are organised in petty republics, enjoj'ing self-government under the
English. Each group is separately administered by a mse, or elder, assisted by
other " patriarchs," who deliberate in council with him, and who are entrusted
with the executive power. The Pokomos had a sort of common law based on the
principle of " eye for eye and tooth for tooth," which is no longer observed.

North and north-west of Kilima-Njaro the most advanced, or northernmost,
Bantu tribes are the Wakambas and Wakiku3-us (Wa-Kamba, Wa-Kikuyu). The
missionary Wakefield also mentions a tribe of the same stock, the Mbe or Dhaicho
people, who are said to inhabit the plains stretching to the north-east of Mount
Kenia. The Wakambas, called also Warimangaos (Wa-Rimangao), who dwell to
the south of this huge moiintain mass, and whom Krapf estimated at about seventy
thousand souls, are divided into as many republican communities as there are
native villages in their territory. They are an entei-prising people, wlio have
been exposed to the constant attacks of the neighbouring Masai and Galla nations.
But they have hitherto successfully resisted these attacks, thanks to the natural
lines of defence presented by their rugged bush-grown territory. Nevertheless
one of their tribes was compelled to emigrate in the j-ear 1882, when men, women,
and children, leaving the dangerous neighbourhood of the Masai nomads, suc-
ceeded in reaching the Usagara country in the upper Wami basin over 300 miles
farther south.

The Wakambas are of a roving disposition, and being accustomed to long
journeys, they are chiefly employed for keeping up the commercial relations
throughout the vast region comprised between the Mombasa coast and Lake
Victoria Nyanza. Most of the porters engaged by the Swaheli traders in the
transport service across this region are members of the Wakamba nation. These
natives have the curious habit of drinking cows' milk mixed with blood drawn
from the necks of their bulls.

Beyond the volcanic plateau, the watenshed of the Victoria Nyanza is again
occupied by tribes of Bantu speech. Here the Kavirondo people of the uplands,
who differ greatly from those of the same name settled on the shores of the great
lake, speak a Bantu dialect so closely related to Ei-Swaheli, that the coast popula-
tions have no diflBculty in understanding them.

THE WAKWAFI. 363

Besides the Bantus, tne hilh-, wooded, and alluvial regions suitable for tillage
would also appear to be inhabited by other peoples descended from the aboriginal
races. Such are the Ala tribe, who dwell in the recesses of the forests between
the ITsambara and Pare highlands, and the Wasilikomos (Wa-SQikomo), that is.
" Dwarfs," who are said to roam the districts lying west of Kilima-Xjaro. But
no European traveller has yet been able to visit them, and their very existence as
a distinct race still remains somewhat doubtful.

The Wakwafi.

The struggle for the ascendency was formerly carried on exclusively between
the Bantu populations, who are mainly tillers of the soil, and the Masai and Galla
nations, who are members of the Hamitic famil}' occupied chiefly with pasturage
and chronic warfare. The Wakwafi (Wa-Kwafi), although of the same origin as
the Masai, may be regarded as forming a sort of transition between the Bantu
and Hamitic ethnical groups, for several of their tribes have given up the nomad
life, and become intermingled with the agricultural and settled populations.
These Wakwafi are scattered over a territory of vast extent. Some, under the
name of Humba, ai-e settled in the vicinity of Mamboia, a missionary station in
the Usambara country, others dwell over 400 miles farther north on the lower
slopes of Mount Kenia. But the great majority of the nation is at present con-
centrated in certain parts of the volcanic and lacustrine depression which separates
the eastern and western plateaux, and on the western terrace lands sloping in the
direction of Lake Victoria Nyanza.

In the year 18-30 the Wakwafi were also still the ruling people in the region
which is bounded on the west by the Ugono and Pare districts, on the east by
Teita, and southwards by TJsambara. But since that time this section of the
nation has been exposed to an almost uninterrupted series of crushing calamities.
Some of their pillaging or foraging parties were cut ofE to a man, their crops were
devoured by swarms of locusts, their cattle perished of disease and hunger ; then
came the Masai hordes of the surrounding districts, who fell upon and massacred
the greater part of those that had escaped from the previous disasters. The few
survivors were fain to seek a refuge amongst the Bantu populations of the neigh-
bouring highlands, founding agricultural and trading settlements in the midst of
the Taveta, Teita, Pare, Gono, Sambara, and Zeguha communities. This change
from an unsettled, predatory existence to a peaceful mode of life has been attended
bj' excellent moral results. The eastern branch of the Wakwafi nation, who were
formerly so much dreaded, is at present regarded as one of the most industrious,
honest, and hospitable people in East Central Africa.

The Masai.

The Masai properly so called, who claim for themselves and the kindred
Wakwafi the distinctive appellation of Il-Oikob, that is, " Men," * believe, like so

* This term is, however, also diversely explained to mean, "Brave," "Free," or "Masters of the
Land." that is. autochthones, or men of the soil.

3C4 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. *'

many other peoples, that they arc the elect of mankind. According to the national
legends, they are of divine origin, being sprung from a god who has his seat
above the cloud-capped summit of Mount Kenia. Like the Wakwafi, however,
they have already become diversely intermingled with the surrounding Bantu
populations ; but the domain claimed or roamed over by them stretches somewhat
more to the south than that of the AVakwafi branch. They occupy nearlj' the
whole of the open country which stretches between the Upper Pangani and
Fgogo, and are also very numerous in the volcanic depression separating the two
plateaux. The triangular Dogilani depression situated to the south of Lake
Naivasha belongs entirely to the Masai people, who, however, have frequently
shifted the limits of -their territory, either by voluntary migrations, hostile
encroachments, defeats, famine, and other vicissitudes incidental to their loosely
organised political sj-stem. They certainly number at present several hundred
thousand souls, and must be estimated at over a million if in this ethnical group
are to be included the AVahumbas bordering on XJgogo and the Wahumas scattered
over Unyamezi and around the shores of Victoria Nyanza.

The Masai phj-sical t^-pe is one of the finest and noblest in the whole of Africa.
According to Thomson, the men of pure Masai blood average six feet high, and
have generally slim, wiry figures, admirable for running. Their features fre-
quently resemble those of Europeans, being distinguished especially by broad
foreheads and straight, slender nose; but the upper incisors generally tend to
project forwards, especially amongst the women, many of whom even find it diffi-
cult to make both lips meet. The check-bone is also verj' prominent, while the
eyelids and the orbits have the oblique disposition characteristic of the Mongolic
races. The skull, which is elongated and well developed, is covered by a mass of
hair somewhat less crisp than that of the Negro and at times even quite lank.
But this feature can be observed only amongst the young men, for all married
men and all women without exception keep their heads carefully shaven. In the
same way all the Masai people pierce and enlarge the lower lobe of the ear, insert-
ing at first little rods, and afterwards distending it by means of heavy pendants
made of iron or copper wire. Like some of the Nilotic and North Abyssinian
tribes, the Masai pastors will frequently remain for hours standing on one fbot
with the other planted against the calf, and the bodj^ resting on their lance or
shield. So F. L. James tells us that the Base tribe " have a very peculiar way of
resting, which is, I believe, common among many of the tribes of the White Nile.
They place the sole of the right foot against the left knee, a mode of repose
which to a European seems most uncomfortable and almost impossible." *

Being essentially a pastoral people, the Masai lead a restless wandering life.
Their usages are also in many respects intimately associated with the nomad
existence of herdsmen. In various ways they show the greatest veneration for
their cattle, even respecting the ver}- herbage which serves as the daily food of
their herds. Grass is in their eyes a sacred plant, which may not be thrown to
the flames, nor yet cut down to be used for thatching their huts or strewing over

• JFild Tribes of the Sudan, p. 90.

THE MASAI.

3G5

their beds. Xo negotiations are valid unless the contractiug parties hold at the
time a tuft of grass in their hands ; no warlike expedition can hope for success
unless a few wisps of herbage are first scattered along the route leading in the
direction of the country they intend to march against. In order to escape from
any pending misfortune the Masai smears his forehead and cheeks with cowdung ;
and when he fe^ls the approach of death, he begs to be placed in the midst of his
beloved cattle, so that he may pass away amid hallowed surroundings. He lives

FiK- 111.— Masai Waeeioes.

almost exclusively on an animal diet, drinking the milk of his cows, eating the
flesh of hie steers and oxen ; but, strange to say, he considers it unlawful to take
both milk and flesh on the same day. He can also be seldom induced to give or
sell milk to strangers. The national diet is altogether regarded in a very serious
light, and is regulated by severe ordinances, especially during the period when the
young persons of both sexes are preparing for the rites admitting them to fellow-
ship with the adult members of the communit}-, and later when the young men are
passing through the noviciate required to take part in the warlike expeditions.

366 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

At that time the youths are gorged with the flesh of oxen, and drink the hot
blood spurting from the arteries of the wounded animals, in order thereby to lay
in the greatest possible store of muscle and ferocity. Tobacco and all alcoholic
drinks arc at the same time strictly forbidden, the national experience having
shown tliat indulgence in these dissipations leads to a general deterioration of the
physical and moral qualities.

Masai society is divided into the two great classes of warriors and men of
peace, respectively distinguished by the terms elmuraii and ehnorua. These terms,
which bear some resemblance to that of Ihn-Ormu, the collective national name of
the Galla people, would seem to argue in favour of the common origin of the two
races, a view which is also supported by other arguments. The young men who
have the prospects of a rich inheritance in cattle are usually grouped in the peace-
ful elmorua division ; on the other hand, the more numerous class whose prospects
are less brilliant, enroll themselves in the warlike division, in order to improve
their position by taking part in plundering expeditions. These generally live
apart, far from the camping-grounds of the married people, but accompanied by
young girls whose duty it is to tend the herds, to provide the necessary supplies,
and prepare the equipments of the yoimg braves.

Their incursions range over vast spaces, often suddenly surprising peaceful
populations some hundred miles off. The marauders creep stealthily along amid
the nearer tribes, which are usually on the alert, and generally return to their
homes by different routes, accompanied by the herds which they have seized, and
which meekly follow them, as if charmed by some secret magic incantations.
Acting always under the guidance of leaders in whom they place implicit confi-
dence, the cattle-lifters observe the strictest discipline on the march, and display
great skill in executing the various tactics of sudden surprise, retreat, feints, and
suchlike movements of border warfare. They fight in silence, without the beat-
ing of drums, or any battle-cries; the warrior who betrays any symptoms of
cowardice is hacked to pieces by his companions. Whoever fails to bring back the
spear and other equipments of his comrade in arms, with whom he has made
brotherhood by drinking the same blood, meets with universal scorn, can make no
more friends, and becomes little better than an outcast.

Like all fighting people, such as the Kafirs, Matebelcs, and Zulus, the Masai
exhibit a great love of finery and personal ornamentation. They are fond of
painting their bodies in red ; a flowing white cotton robe, edged or striped in some
bright colour, falls from the shoulders, being attached to the neck like the poncho
of the Mexicans. The oval contour of the face is also enclosed in a leather band
or strap, which is embellished either with a zebra's mane or the tufted bristles of
a wild boar, or better still with a bunch of black ostrich feathers, this remarkable
object forming an cUiptically shaped headdress which is disposed diagonally in a
line beginning under the nether lip, and nmning in front of the ear to the crown.
Beneath this singular head-gear, from which the face appears to protrude as from
the empty frame of a looking-glass, the shoulders are enveloped in a short cape
which seems to consist of one mass of kites' feathers. Other white plumes are also

THE MASAI. 367

disposed above the head, the hair of which is sometimes drawn out in long ringlets
by means of bark fibre. The arms are protected by a horny ring and many coils
of brass wire. To the calves are attached the flowing white fleece of the colobus
in such a way as to resemble fluttering wings as he runs, and the gorgeous equip-
ment finishes off with little tinkling bells attached to the heels. The weapons
usually consist of a short sword passed through the girdle of a leathern tunic, a
long broad-headed lance held in one hand, and in the other a great shield, painted
all over with many-coloured heraldic devices.

The women are far less sumptuously arrayed. They usually wear little cloth-
ing bej'ond a robe of dressed leather leaving exposed one arm and half of the breast.
But they are on the other hand overladen with metal wire wound round the arms
and legs, and disposed about the neck in the form of an inverted metal salver.
Burdened as they are with such a weight of iron or copper ornaments, it is
surprising to see the amount of bodily work they are able to get through, attending
to the wants of their husbands and children, milking the cows, keeping the house-
hold in order, and even doing a brisk trade with passing strangers. Less cruel
and less eager for gain than the men, they have often saved the lives of their
guests from the fury of their husbands or brothers. So inconvenient are the
metallic adornments, that the wearer can neither walk properly nor sit down or rise
like other people, and can never run. When these ornaments are once on they
become permanent fixtures, till finally taken off, as it woidd require many days of
painful work again to adjust them in their proper places. They chafe the ankles
especially, and evidently cause much pain. As they are also put on when very
young, the calf is unable to develop to its natural size, and the consequence is
that in the adult woman the legs remain at a uniform thickness, from ankle to
knees — in fact, mere animated stilts (Thomson). The weight of this armour varies
from four or five up to as many as thirty poimds, accoi'ding to the wealth of the
family ; and to the iron wire some even superadd great quantities of beads and iron
chains, disposed in diverse ways round the neck.

As a rule, the life of war and pillage is at an end as soon as the elmuran
thinks of settling down as a family man : that is, when he has acquired sufficient
wealth to purchase a wife with the customary dowry of cattle. For a full month
during the engagement the young man dons the dress of his betrothed, doubtless to
signify that he has at last been subdued by the power of love, like an African
Hercules seated at the feet of a dusky Omphale. Custom also reqiiires the newly
married couple to live on a milk diet for the first month after the wedding. But
later they acquire full freedom in this respect, and the ex-warrior, now become a
man of peace, is no longer restricted even to the alternating regimen of milk and
beef. He may now add to his ordinary fare cereals, fruits, and vegetables, as well
as such luxuries as snuff, tobacco, which he has learnt to chew, and fermented
drinks. He now also turns his attention to local politics ; he takes his place in the
assemblies held to deliberate on matters of public interest, and votes at the election
of the laigonani, or deputj', by whom he is represented in the more important
discussions.

368 SOUTU AXD EAST Ai'RICA.

Although naturally proud and arrogant, the Masai has always a cordial wel-
come for his friends. He even condescends to show a certain degree of courtesy to
foreign traders, and will at times go the length of expectorating on them, to
express his friendly feelings in the most approved fashion. Speaking of this
remarkable national custom, Thomson assures us that it expresses " the greatest
good -will and the best of wishes. It takes the place of the compliments of the
season, and you had better spit upon a damsel than kiss her. You spit when you
meet, and you do the same on leaving. You seal your bargain in a similar
manner. As I was a lijbon (wizard) of the first water, the Masai flocked to me as
pious Catholics would do to springs of healing virtue, and with the aid of occa-
sional draughts of water I was equal to the demand. The more copiously I spat
upon them the greater was their delight, and with pride they would retail to
their friends how the white medicine-man honoured them, and would point with
the greatest satisfaction to the ocular proof of the agreeable fact." *

The Masai displays little love of work, and practices no industry of any kind.
The women attend to all his personal wants, while the various trades and profes-
sions are carried on by some enslaved tribes, such as the "Wandorobbos (Wa-
Ndorobbo), who manufacture the warriors' weapons and the domestic utensils, and
also hunt the buffalo and elephant. In their physical features, speech and costume,
these artisans appear to belong to the Masai stock; but they have been much
debased bj' slavery, and Krapf regards them as related rather to the aboriginal
Ala tribes, who still survive in the upland vallej's of Usambara. The Wando-
robbos are at present chiefly found scattered in small village groups in the forest
districts on the slopes of Keuia and the Kikuyu highlands, where tbej' live mainly
on the produce of the chase.

The Masai people have no regular form of religious worship, although when
taken by surprise or stricken by any sudden terror they frequently invoke a super-
natural being whom they call Ngai, and whom they confound with the wind, the
sun, the mountain snows, the peals of thunder, and lightning-flash. Amongst
them there is a numerous class of laibons (lybons), or magicians, who interpret the
flight of birds and all the phenomena of animated nature, who call down blessings
on the herds, ward off pestilence, and conjure the fury of the elements. The
mbatian, a potent mediciue-man regarded as the wisest of soothsayers, is the
wealthiest person in the whole of Masai Land. He is the owner of countless flocks,
and like all other Masai sages, gives proof of his power and wisdom by his corpu-
lence. By an artificial system of diet he has grown so obese as to have almost lost
the faculty of locomotion, and is consequently all the more venerated by his
votaries.

In some districts the Masai, like the Wanyikas, pay a sort of homage to
" father hysona," the animal that devours all bodies thrown to the bush. When
the carcass of one of these beasts crosses their path the whole tribe goes into
mourning, for the hyaena is regarded as a kind of tutelar deity of the race, and a
vague belief in metempsychosis finds expression in the idea that the souls of their

• Op. cit., p. -291.

I^j'"

Eli
O

z
o

THE GAIiLAS.

I'orefatliers pass into the bodies of these rapacious felines. But Fischer met with
no traces oi this worship in the southern parts of the country, where the most
respected animal is a species of stork, which also preys on carrion and follows the
warriors on all their marauding expeditions.

The dead are not buried, but exposed under some wide-branchiag tree. To
consign them to the earth would be regarded as an act of desecration. Hence
passing caravans are obliged to carry all their dead with them, the bodies being
usually concealed in a bale of cotton goods. Were their presence suspected the
convoy would be turned back, to keep the sacred soil of Masai Land from the risk
of pollution by their burial.

The G.vllas and Neighbouring Tribes.

In the Tana basin the southward displacement of the Bantu populations has
been caused by the Galla hordes advancing from the north. These Gallas, who
themselves suffer from the encroachments of the Somali people, are probably the
original stock whence the Masai branched off at some remote period. On this
southern verge of their extensive domain they formerly constituted two main
groups, the Bararettas and Korokoros on the southern bank of the Tana, and
the Kokawes, who are scattered along the north side of the river, but who have
been almost completely exterminated by the Somali. In 1878 all had disappeared
except four village settlements, and there can be no doubt that all the Gallas of
the district would have been swept away but for the timely intervention of the
Swaheli and Arab traders on their behalf. These traders settled along the neigh-
bouring coast had certainly no great love for the insolent Galla people, and would
have complacently looked on at their utter extermination, but for the fact that
thereby they would lose an established market and regular customers for their
wares.

Having been plundered of all their cattle, the local Galla commimities have
been compelled to take to the chase, to agriculture and trade, pursuits altogether
repugnant to the great bulk of the nation. Their clans are governed by the heiyu,
or ghief, who is chosen from some distinguished family, and who is himself subor-
dinate to a higher chief, also appointed by election, but only for a term of seven
years. This advanced southern branch of the great Ibn-Orma nation is fully
conscious of their common origin with the northern Galla people, to whom they
are said occasionally to despatch envoys.

North-west of Lake Baringo the district watered by the upper course of the
"Wei-Wei, which flows northwards in the direction of the Zamburu, is inhabited
by the Wakamasia and Wa-Elgeyo tribes. Although certainly related to the
Masai, these peaceful and industrious peojjles betray little resemblance in their
social usages to their fierce and predatory neighbours. North-west of Mount
Elgon lies the territory of the numerous Suk nation, who give their name to the
Suk range of hills, and appear to be of mixed Galla descent. To the same con-
nection belong the much more powerful Turkana people, who occupy the whole

AFRICA IV. b b

370 SOUTH AND EAST AFfilCA.

of the west side of Lake liudolf, and are described by Captain Wellby as giants
seven feet high. But this statement awaits verification, the more so since other
observers do not describe the Turkanas as much taller than the neighbouring
and kindred Masai people.

Topography.

Since the Portuguese have had to abandon the stations and strongholds which
they possessed on the East African seaboard north of Zanzibar, most of the
commercial movement between the coast and the interior has fallen into the hands
of the Arab, Swaheli, and British traders. The Swaheli especially are proud
of their decided genius for trade, and should any doubt be expressed regarding
the success of their undertakings, they are apt to exclaim, " Are we not Swaheli ? "
as if that were sufficient to guarantee a favourable issue. Before 1884 not a
single European merchant had gained a footing on any part of this coast, and the
only whites in the whole country were the Protestant missionaries stationed at
Magila in Usambara, at Freretown and Rabai in the vicinity of Mombasa. But a
vast change has taken place in all these respects during the few years since the
British power has been established in the whole region between the seaboard and
the great equatorial lakes, and especially since the old caravan tracks have been
superseded by solidly constructed roads and railways.

The group of villages situated near the mouth of the Pangani on its left bank,
already constitutes a town of some importance. Over a thousand Swahelis,
Wazeguhas, and half-caste Negroes have here erected their little houses or huts
on a low-lying plain bordered seawards bj^ a fringe of mangrove forest. On the
opposite or right side the village of Buani nestles at the foot of a nearlj' vertical
eminence about 200 feet high. Before the loss of the caravan which started from
Pangani in the year 1878, this place was almost exclusively chosen for the equip-
ment of the trading expeditions destined to proceed from the coast to the Kilima-
Njaro region, and the territory of the southern Masai tribes. Since the Anglo-
German treaties of 1886 and 1893 the Pangani district has formed part of
German territory.

Before 1880 the Arabs, properly so-called, took scarcely any share in ' the
commercial life of Pangani. They are more numerous at Tanga [Muoa), a town
situated on the south side of a small but sheltered haven which communicates with
the sea by a deep channel winding between two walls of coral reefs. Of all the
towns lying north of Pangani on the mainland, Tanga, which is girdled round by
a zone of cocoanut groves, offers the greatest abundance of provisions to passing
vessels. It forwards a great part of its live stock to the Zanzibar shambles, and
also yields considerable quantities of fruits and vegetables. It was at Tanga that
Baron von dtr Decken equipped his caravan for his famous expedition to Kilima-
Njaro, and this place is now the starting-point of a railwaj-, which is eventually
to reach Karague, and is already open to Pong we, 10 miles from the coast.
Muorongo, which lies on Tangata Bay between Pangani and Tanga, is also a
frequented little seaport.

MOMBASA.

371

Mombaz, the Mombasa of the Arabs, the Mvifa of the Swaheli traders, the city sung
by Camoens in the " Lusiad," was already a famous place even before the arrival
of the Portuguese navigators. In the fourteenth century it was the residence of
the king of the Zenj state, and was at that time described as " a great city visited
by ships." "\Yhen Vasco de Gama came to survey the entrance to its port he ran
an imminent rislf of being taken prisoner. So far from increasing the commercial
activity of Mombasa, the appearance of the Portuguese in these waters marked the

Tig. 112.— Mombasa befoee 18
Scale 1 : 25,000.

54' AC

East Dp,G»^e

54 Va-

Eeefa exposed at
low water.

0tol6
Feet.

Depths.

1,100 Tarda.

beginning of its decline. The place was again visited by Pedr' Alvares Cabral in
1500, and five years later it was burnt to the ground by Francisco d' Almeida.

In 1528 the Europeans once more established themselves in this seaport, which
they again lost and again recovered before the close of the century. By them was
erected the imposing fortress which is still seen to the south of the city, crowning
a low coralline eminence. On the gateway may even still be read the date, 1635,
inscribed by the Portuguese builders of this stronghold. But in 1660 it had
already fallen into the hands of the Imam of Muscat, and in 1698 the Lusitanians

872

SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

were finally expelled from the place. Its Arab masters pulled down the Christian
churches, using^ the materials in the erection of their palaces. Then fresh wars
broke out during the eighteenth century, from which, however, the ruler of
Muscat came out victorious.

At present the Arabs are merely commercial agents under the protectorate of

Fig. 113.— Poets and Bnxs op Mombasa.
Scale 1 : 280,000.

i?'55-

Erat oF Greenwich

Sands and rooks exposed
at low water.

Depths.

etc 32
Feet.

82 Feet and

□pwards.

6 Miles.

Great Britain, in whose hands ilombasa, present capital of British East Africa,
has rapidly become, next to Zanzibar, the largest and most flourishing seaport on
the west side of the Indian Ocean. In 1888 little more than a heap of ruins, it
has since then been entirely rebuilt, and enlarged to such an extent that the

MOMBASA.

373

population was estimated at about 30,000 in 1899. Formerly a hot-bed of fever,
it has become a clean and healthy residence, thanks to the sanitary arrangements
and other improvements.

The town of Mombasa stands on the east side of a coralline island, which has
been upheaved more than 100 feet above the level of the surrounding waters.
Unfortunately the harbour, although deep and sheltered from most winds, is
utterly unsuited to its present requirements. No doubt the creek extends several

Fig. 114. — Malindi and Vasco de Gama's Pillak.
Scale 1 : 38,000.

•° -'i^ Old Town <

•■ ..tf

East" oF Greenwrch

40°iO'

40°li

Depths.

Sands and rocka ex- 0 to 16
posed at low water Feet.

16 to 64
Feet.

64 Feet and
upwards.

1,100 Yards.

miles inland, with a depth of from 12 to 20 fathoms. But it is so narrow opposite
the town that only a few steamers find room to swing at anchor. Owing to the
height of the cliff it is also impossible to land hea^'y goods. But at Kiliiidini,
which lies two miles on the other side of the island, the creek, while equally deep,
is much broader and more sheltered from the surf than at Mombasa. Hence Kilindini
has been chosen as the terminus of the Uganda railway, which, is now rapidly
approaching the shores of Lake Victoria.

874 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

North-east of Mombasa, and on the opposite side of the creek, stands the
English station of Freretown, so named in honour of Sir Bartle Frere, who took so
much interest in the colonisation of these regions by means of emancipated slaves.
A headland, rising to the west of Freretown, with its shady mangosteen plantations,
is crowned by the village of liabai, which has been occupied since the middle of
the century by the missionaries, and which has also received a large number of
runaway slaves from the interior. Not far from this station stands the ridge of
elevated hills which is visible from the sea, and which serves as a landmark to
mariners bound for the port of Mombasa. Hence this ridge has received from the
Portuguese the name of CorOa de Mombaz, that is to say, the " Crown of
Mombasa."

Of much less importance, at least for the present, are the other seaports which
follow northwards between the ancient city and the mouth of the Tana. Kileji
iQiiclifa), situated a little to the south of the river of like name, presents nothing
but a low beach, where the Arab dhows often run aground. The splendid havens in
the vicinity are now completely abandoned, and Tangaunku, which was a flourishing
place in the eighteenth century, is now little more than a camping-groimd for the
surrounding nomad tribes.

Farther north stretch the open roadsteads of Malindi {Melinda), memorable in
the history of navigation in the eastern seas. After doubling the Cape of Good
Hope, the intrepid Vasco de Gaiiia touched at this place and took on board the
pilots, under whoso guidance he boldly steered for India. To commemorate his
visit he erected, about four miles north of the present town, apadruo, or pillar, which
still exists, inscribed with a cross and the arms of Portugal. This is the only sur-
viving monument which still recalls the days of Lusitanian predominance along
this section of the seaboard. All the inscriptions hitherto discovered in the ruined
grass-grown city, till recently exposed to the nightly visits of the elephant, are of
Persian or Arab origin. According to the local tradition, Melinda was founded
many centuries ago by Persian immigrants from Shiraz. During the period of
the Zenj power it was renowned far and wide for its potent magicians and snake-
charmers. Recently this famous seaport has begun to recover a little of its former
greatness ; but being destitute of a well-sheltered natural harbour, it can never
hope to rival the southern ports of Mombasa and Pangani, even should the tide of
prosperity again set towards this now desolate seaboard.

Administkation. — The British East Africa Company. — Railway Enterprise.

— The Sclater Road.

With the foundation of the Imperial British East Africa Company in 1888
began the first serious attempt of the EngUsh to gain a footing on the seaboard
north of Zanzibar. This association, from which the territory it undertook to
organise was for a time known as Ibe.\, i.e., the initial letters of its title, went to
work at first with astonishing vigour, rapidly extending the range of its jurisdic-
diction, with Imperial sanction, if not encouragement, from the coast to Uganda,

ADMINISTEATION. 375

and beyond it to the Ruwenzori range, the Semliki valley, and, in fact, right up
to the eastern frontiers of the Congo Free State. But the political and religious
complications in the equatorial lake region, described in the next volume, soon
compelled them to withdraw from Uganda, the control of which was taken over
by the British Government, on the report of Sir Gerald Portal, in 1894.

Meantime, tj;ie Company had strengthened its hold of the seaboard, where it
had acquired the right to administer the coast from the Umba Eiver to Kipini, as
well as the ports and islands — Lamu, Manda, Patta, &c. — north of the Tana. But
here also the burden of political control over lawless, and even predatory, popula-
tions was felt to be too heavy for an association which was partly inspired by
philanthropic motives, and empowered to perform higher functions than those of
a mere trading corporation. Hence the Company was induced to surrender all its
sovereign rights in 1895, when a British Protectorate was proclaimed over all the
territories lying between, but not hitherto included within, the protectorates of
Zanzibar and Uganda.

Thus was constituted the present East Africa Protectorate, which, as already
stated, extends from the Umba to the Juba River, and from the Indian Ocean to
the not yet clearly defined frontiers of the Uganda Protectorate. The whole ter-
ritory is placed under the control of a Commissioner and Consul- General, who is
also British Agent and Consul-General at Zanzibar. The protectorate is divided
for administrative purposes into four provinces, each under a sub- Commissioner :
1, the coast province of Seyyidieh, with capital Mombasa; 2, Ukamba, capital
Machaco's ; 3, Tanaland, including Wiiif, capital Lamu ; 4, Jubaland, capital
Kismayu.

Slave-raiding, as well as the marauding incursions of the Masai, Gallas, and
other predatory hordes, have almost everywhere been suppressed, and early
explorers revisiting these lands are especially struck by the absence of the long
lines of slave caravans, with their white-robed Arabo-Swahili leaders, winding
across the Taru wilderness on their way from the harassed inland hunting-grounds
to the seaboard. Under the pax Britannica even tlje Korokoro and other nomad
Galla tribes are becoming sedentary, while the lawless Masai themselves, whose
]?ower was broken by the devastating cattle-plague a few years ago, are taking
service as askars, or armed police. Peaceful intercourse, legitimate trade, and the
industries are everywhere protected and encouraged. The revenue advanced from
less than £20,000 in 1894 to £44,000 in 1898, when the total exchanges exceeded
£550,000.

But the protectorate, largely occupied with waste spaces, or arid steppe lands,
is not a rich country, its chief resources being copra, copal, cattle, and animal pro-
ducts. It exists, and is held, rather for the sake of the highly productive equatorial
region about the headwaters of the Nile, the possession of which is of vital impor-
tance to the British Empire. It not onlj' secures the control of the Nile basin
from Lake Victoria to the Mediterranean, but also afibrds an alternative route to
the East by Egypt, round the Abyssinian highlands to the Indian Ocean, a route
the need of which will be at once made evident whenever the Suez Canal and the

376 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

Red Sea may become designedly or accidentally obstructed in time of war with
any of the Great Powers. But this route will not be available for practical pur-
poses until the land communications are completed ; that is, until a junction is
effected between the northern section of the Cape-to-Cairo transcontinental railway
and the Uganda-Mombasa line. Both of these imperial works are making steady
progress. The Nile valley line spanned the Atbara early in 1899, and reached
Khartum before the end of the year. The Indian Ocean section, as it may be
called, for which the sum of £3,000,000 was granted by the British Parliament,
was tinished from Kilindini (Mombasa) to Kikuyu, a distance of 335 miles, in
September, 1899. As originally planned, this line would have had a total length
of 657 miles from the coast to Port Victoria, on Berkeley Bay, in the north-east
corner of Lake Victoria. But by carrying it from Lake Nakuro, in the Great
Rift valley, straight to ygowe Ba)-, and thus avoiding the long detour by the
difficult Eldoma Ravine, almost on the equator, a saving has been effected of 92
miles in the distance and pf £500,000 in the cost. The gradients also are much
easier by this southern route through Kavirondoland, and it is expected that the
whole line, 565 miles long, will be completed in the year 1900.

Simultaneously with the railway, the local administration undertook another
great engineering work, with the same object of improving and increasing the
communications between the two protectorates. This is the already famous
"Sclater Road," so named from its designer, the late Capt. B. L. Sclater, who just
lived to see its completion, after twa years of incessant toil amid almost over-
whelming difficulties, in March, 1897. This great highway rims nearly parallel
with the railway as far as Lake Nakuro, where it branches off north-west to the
Eldoma Ravine, and thence, through the rich Nandi country and Mutuia, down
the Guaso Maso (Nzoia) valley to Port Victoria, 400 miles from Mombasa. The
route from the Great Rift valley thus nearly coincides with that which was
originally laid down for the railway, and is taken by the telegraph to Uganda.
This line was also completed in September, 1899, and is now in good working
order. It should be noticed that, during the progress of the road-making, Capt.
Sclater's associate, Capt. E. G. Smith, carried out a splendid piece of triangulation,
connecting the coast with Victoria Nyanza, and determining the elevation of the
lake at 3,775 feet. Thanks to this achievement, the prominent geographical
features of the region traversed by the highway are better known than almost
any other part of inter-tropical Africa.

CHAPTER XII.

SOMALI AND EAST GALLA LANDS.

HIS easternmost region of Africa projects in rude peninsular form
beyond the normal continental coast-line, in such a way as to skirt
for some 600 miles the south side of the Gulf of Aden, -which
separates it from the far larger Arabian peninsula on the north.
Few other African lands present an equal degree of geographical
unity, both as regards its main physical outlines and the homogeneous character of
its unruly nomad populations. Taken as a whole, Somali Laud constitutes a region
of triangular shape, which is bounded on the north by the Gulf of Aden, on the
east and south-east by the reefs and shores of the Indian Ocean as far as the Tana
estuary, and on the west, that is, landwards, by the little known and rarely visited
moimtain range which forms the outer escarpment of the inland plateaux from
Mount Kenia to Wosho and the Ankober highlands.

This extensive tract, which has a superficial area of over 400,000 square miles,
is inhabited by tribal groups which present a great uniformity of tj'pe, language,
and usages, from one end of the territory to the other. They even appear to have
maintained the same uniformity, or at least to have undergone but slight change
since the remote ages recorded on the ancient Egyptian monuments.

■• Progress of Exploratiox.

Although it has been known for thousands of years to history, the Somali domain
had remained almost entirely excluded from the sphere of European influences,
until it was parcelled out during the nineties between Great Britain, Italy, and
Abyssinia. The geographical exploration of the country is even still very far
from being completed. Students of historical geography are unacquainted with
the itineraries both of Jorge de Abreu, who accompanied an Abyssinian army to
the shores of Lake Zuway in 1525, and of Antonio Fernandez, who traversed this
region a century later. On the other hand, the routes of the modern explorers
who have penetrated farther inland — Cruttenden, Burton, James, Von der Decken,
Revoil, Paulitschke — had all stopped short of the mountain range bounding the
plateaux of Gallaland, until this barrier was crossed by the disastrous Italian
expedition of Bottego and Grixoni in 1892-3, and again by Dr. Donaldson Smith,

378

SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

who for the first time, in 1894-5, made the complete circuit from Berbera, on the
Gulf of Aden, right through SomaliUmd to Luke Rudolf, and so on round to the
Indian Ocean. But even these itineraries remain still partly unconnected with
those of d'Abbadie, Jules Borelli, Cecchi, and other recent travellers in the
Abyssinian and Shoa highlands.

Unfortunately, the present political condition of Somali Land renders the

Fig. 115. — Chief Koutbh op Exi'lobebs in Souau Land.
Scale 1 : 10,000,000.

East of Greenwich

18U Miles.

exploration of the interior both difficult and dangerous. The division of the tribes
into numerous distinct clans also obliges travellers to pay a considerable amount of
blackmail, levied by every little village potentate under the form of presents or
other pretexts at every station along the route, iloreover, strangers have to adapt
themselves, as everywhere throughout tropical Africa, to a more or less dangerous
climate, which, however, thanks to the dryness of the atmosphere, is here less fatal
than in most other torrid zones. Other terrors also dog their steps, and several

PHYSICAL FEATUEES OF SOMALI LAND. 379

have already fallen victims either to the hardships of the route or to the assassin's
dagger.

But despite all these obstacles, and the troubles caused by the encroachments
of the Abyssinians on the Somali domain, most of the land is now known at least
in its more salient physical features. Already, at the time of the Khedive Ismail
Pasha, the Egj'ptians endeavoured to establish their supremacy on the Somali
coast. But British intervention prevented them from annexing to their empire
the land of aromatic herbs. Later the attempts of the Germans to obtain a foot-
ing on the east coast were unsuccessful, and their new port of " Hohenzollern-
hafen " has disappeared from the maps. Except a small French enclave about
the Gulf of Tajurah, the whole region is now divided between Great Britain,
which holds most of the north coast ; Italy, which occupies all the eastern sea-
board ; and Abyssinia, which claims all the rest as far south as British East
Africa.

Physical Features.

Little beyond conjecture can be hazarded regarding the connection of the
Aberdare, the Siik, and the other ranges beyond Kenia with the Abyssinian
highlands. But the Great Rift Valley, which is fed by the Omo from the
Galla uplands, is now known to terminate northwards in the Samburu depres-
sion, flooded by Lakes Rudolf and Stefanie. North-east of Samburu the land
rises rapidly to heights of 4,000 or 5,000 feet in the Konso and Amara hills, and
to 8,000 feet in the Janjam mountains east of the beautiful Lake Abaya, "which
was discovered by Dr. Donaldson Smith in 1895. This romantic little lacustrine
basin, which sends its overflow through a headstream of the Galana Amara to
Lake Stefanie, is " from eleven to twelve miles across, and almost rectangular, the
eastern and southern sides presenting gently sloping grassy plains and low hills
for a couple of miles, until the mountains of the Janjams and the Konso range are
reached. On the north and west high mountain ranges, rising directly from the
water's edge, extend far away in the distance."*

Above one of these ridges towers the Mount Wosho, which d'Abbadie beheld
at a distance of 150 miles.

Farther north Cecchi and Chiarini in 1879, after crossing the border ranges
vnth. a mean altitude of from 9,000 to 10,000 feet, descended from the plateau
above which rises Mount Wariro, and thence made their way over a pass down to
the lower terraces which send their surface waters to the basin of the Webi. Still
farther north two parallel chains of extinct volcanoes enclose a lacustrine depres-
sion, where are foimd three lakes which have been seen from a distance by the
Italian explorers. The northernmost of these basins is Lake Zuway (6,000 feet),
which was till recently supposed to be an affluent of the Awash river. Now,
however, it is known to receive several tributaries from the north, amongst others

• Through Uitknotcn African Countries, p. 229.

880 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

the Katara, described as an " iinmense " river. According to native report the
Zuway conimuuicates southwards with the second lake, which is known by the name
of Ilogga, and it is quite possible that both of these reservoirs send an emissary in
a southerly direction to the basin of the Juba. In the north the Awash also escapes
towards the plains through a deep mountain gorge, beyond which are seen the
summits of the Shoa highlands standing out against the horizon. ,

Between the escarpments of the inland plateau and the seaboard, the inter-
vening regions do not slope uniformly in anj'' given direction. According to
the information collected by Guillain, Wakefield, James, and other explorers, the
monotony of the plains is diversified by isolated peaks, chains of hills, and rugged
uplands. But in the northern part of Somali Land the ground rises from the coast
inland in such a way as to develop a long ridge of irregular mountains, which
are mainly disposed in a direction parallel with the shores of the Gulf of Aden,
and which in their general formation resemble the chains of South Arabia on the
opposite side of the gulf. Thus the volcanic heights appear to correspond on both
sides of the marine inlet.

The group of the Harrar Mountains, bj' which the city of the same name is en-
circled as by a magnificent natural amphitheatre, may be regarded as the western
limit of the North Somali coast range. Mount Mulata, one of the summits lying
to the south-west of Harrar, is said to attain an altitude of 10,000 feet ; while
Mount Hama, to the north-west of the same place, rises to the height of 7,300 feet,
and several other crests exceed 6,500 feet. East of these granite eminences, the
waterparting between the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean becomes more uni-
form with the surrounding plains. It no longer anywhere presents any imposing
elevations, and even gradually merges in a vast and almost level steppe to whicB
Burton has given the name of the " Marar Prairie," and the northern range of
which falls in terraces down to the shores of the Gulf of Aden. This plateau,
the Ogu of the Somali natives, is furrowed here and there bj' ravines or river-beds
which are now mostly waterless, and terminates abruptly in the cliffs and escarp-
ments of the Bor, that is to say, the northern coast range.

The prevailing formation of these escarpments are granites veined with white
quartz and overlain with sandstone and limestone. The rains and running waters
have swept away all the vegetable soil from the upper slopes, lodging it in the
cavities on the rocks, where are seen a few acacias of pale-coloured foliage, some-
what resembling stiinted olive-trees at a distance. The cliffs of the Bor are rent at
intervals by deep gorge-like crevasses, through which, after the tropical rains, the
torrents escape seawards. At the foot of the escarpments stretches the Golan, or
maritime plain, with its dunes and shingle, its wadys and depressions, alternately
saline and marshy.

South of Berbera the coast ranges again acquire a considerable elevation, and
here one of the summits, the wooded and twin-crested Gan Libash, or Toro, exceeds
6,500 feet in altitude.* A narrow pass crossing the divide between the two marine
basins stands at a height of 4,500 feet. Beyond this point going eastwards the

* 9,500 feet, according to Haggenmacker.

CAPE GUAEDAFUI.

381

coast range draws continually nearer to the shore, and such peaks as the Golis, the
Ankor (3,700 feet), the pyramidal Hais (6,100 feet), the Airensit (5,300 feet), near
the Yaffar pass, stand at an average distance of not more than 18 or 20 miles from
the sea. The intervening space is largely occupied by rocky scarps and bluffs,
leaving only here and there a few narrow strips of verdure, generally near the
mouths of the watercourses.

Cape GuARDAFri and the Somali Seaboakd.
The eastern extremity of the African " Horn " is carved by deep fissures into

Fig. 116.— Cape Guaedafti.
Scale 1 : 1.050 nwi

0 to 160
Feet.

160 to 320
Feet.

. 12 Miles.

a number of distinct plateaux, huge quadrangular masses above which rise a few
low eminences. Thus this conspicuous continental headland is limited southwards
by the rocky bed of the Togueni, which trends in the direction of the Gulf of Aden,
and by another fluvial ravine which drains towards the Indian Ocean. Near the
western edge of this limestone plateau rises the Jebel Karoma (Kurmo), 4,000 feet
high, which still bears the name in a scarcely modified form of the " Aromatic
Mountain " formerly given to it by the Greek navigators. The Gor Ali, lying
more to the east, has the same altitude, while another crest close to Cape Guardafui
still rises 2,500 above the sea.

882 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

The famous headland itself, variously known to the Arabs as the Ras Assir and
Jard-IIafi>n, and to the Somali natives as the Girdif, Girdifo, or Yardaf, whence
the Guardafui of European navigators, consists of a nearly vertical rocky wall rising
to a height of about 9U0 feet above its surf-beaten base. So deep is the water at
this point that vessels might easily double the headland by keeping close inshore.
Nevertheless there are few places where shipwrecks are comparatively more fre-
quent, and where the pilot has to take his soundings more carefully in order to avoid
a disaster. Hence the name of the cape has been often explained, in defiance of
etymology, as derived from the Italian word " guarda," which in the lingua franca
of the Levant has the sense of " beware."

During the south-west monsoon the surrounding waters arc generally rough,
the atnio.sphcre is heavily laden with moisture, and the horizon is veiled in dense
fogs and vapour. The marine currents are also very strong, and change their
direction suddenly in the vicinity of the coast, at one time setting landwards, at
another towards the high sea. Hence in the midst of these conflicting elements
the navigator scarcely feels himself free from peril until he reaches depths of 30
or 40 fathoms. When a ship runs aground, the current with which it has drifted
leewards almost invariably carries it to the south of the headland. Here it is
generally again stranded on the shore of a creek well known to mariners, where the
Somali wreckers await their prey.

Some 90 miles to the south of Cape Guardafui, another much dreaded promon-
tory, the Ras Haf un or Meduddu, projects seawards. This headland is formed by
a quadrangular rocky islet with precipitous walls, whose summit develops an
undulating table or plateau, with ridges ranging from 400 to 600 feet in height.
The island is connected with the mainland by a low isthmus about 12 miles long,
and overgrown with stunted brushwood. Thus are formed two open bays north
and south of the isthmus, like the north and south sands at Scarborough, where
the Arab craft ride at anchor alternately according to the direction of the mon-
soons. Owen mentions a local tradition to the effect that the Portuguese had
begun to cut a canal between the two bays, in order to transform the island to an
impregnable fortress.

The upheaval of the sandy spit connecting the Ras Hafun with the adjaceiii;
coast may perhaps be due to a general phenomenon of oscillation going on all
along this seaboard, for in many places old marine beaches are observed strewn
with banks of fossil shells, and at some points penetrating far into the interior of
the continent. The whole of this section of the coast is rock-bound except about
the mouths of the torrents by which the shore-line is here and there interrupted.
For a distance of over 300 miles to the south of Ras Hafun, the seaboard is desig-
nated by the characteristic name of Barr-el-Khassain, that is to say, " Rugged
Land," or region of rocks. According to Owen's suggestion, this very term
Khassaht may perhaps be the same that appears under a corrupt form in the word
Asania, already employed by the ancient Greeks, and in the expression " Land of
Anjan," which occurs on the old maps.

The height of the cliffs along the coast ranges from 200 to about 400 feet, and

EIYERS OF SOMALI LAND.

383

the ravines by which they are broken at irregular intervals give access to shingly
steppes where the gravel is in many places covered by a blackish silicious layer,
interspersed with ferruginous nodules. These elevated plains reminded the French
explorer, M. Revoil, of the appearance of the Crau formations in the south of
France. A zone of upheaved coral reefs some miles in breadth, which here skirts the
present shore-line for some distance, seems to indicate a general upheaval of the

Kg. 117. — Case Guaedatui.

^._ , ^ . ^;atiS:-.V^

land, or else a corresponding subsidence of the sea-level in these waters. The
chain of sandy dunes which still marks the line of the old beach lies some distance
inland.

Rivers.

Of all the fluvial systems in Somali Land the most important, both as regards
the length of its course and the volume of its waters, is that which, under the

9ii4

SOUTH AND EAST APKIOA.

name of Gugsa, takes its rise ia the very heart of Ethiopia, and which at first
describes a great bend to the north, the east, and south-east of the Kaffa high-
lands, as if it intended ultiraatclj^ to join the AVhite Nile through its eastern
tributary, the Sobat. In fact, this was the hj'pothesis suggested by M. Antoine
d'Abbadie, who fancied that the Gugsa formed a southern pendant to the Blue
Nile, which by an analogous bend described in the reverse direction, also joins
the White NUc. But although no explorer has yet visited the upland valleys and
gorges through which the Uma, as it is also called in this part of its course, escapes

Fig. 118.— Ras Hapln.
Scale 1 : 550,000.

Ueptlic.

OtolS
Feet.

18 to 32
Feet.

32 to .»20
Feet.

32'i Feet and
upwards.

12 Miles.

from the Ethiopian highlands, nevertheless the native reports are unanimous in
asserting that after sweeping round the southern base of Mount "Wosho, the Gugsa
trends eastwards to the Galla country through a fissure in the border range. The
Gugsa would therefore appear to be identical with the Dawa or Durka of the
riverain pastoral and agricultural populations. It is also known as the Webi, a
name which differs little from that of the Abai, or Upper Blue Nile, and which
has also the same meaning of " River," or " Running Water." After its junction
with several other " Wcbis," the Ethiopian stream at last takes the direction from
north to south, reaching the Indian Ocean some 24 miles to the south of the

THE JTJBA EIVEE.

885

equator. In this part of its course it is known to the Arabs as the Juba (Jub or
Jeb), which has been identified with the Rio dos Fuegos of the old Portuguese
navigators.

The volume of water sent down by the Juba is not sufficient to scour the
estuary to any great depth. The consequence is that even vessels of light draught
have great difficulty in crossing the bar by which its mouth is obstructed. In the

Fig. 119. — Mouths of the Juba. add Bubashi.
Scale 1 : 1,500,000.

41 '40' EasfcoF Greenwich

42'lff

Depths.

0 to 160

Feet.

160 Feet and
upwards.

, 30 Miles.

year 1798 an English man-of-war surveyed the waters about the entrance, but
the boat which attempted to overcome this obstacle capsized and lost nearly all
its crew, who were either drowned or massacred by the coast Somalia. In 1865
the explorer Von der Decken succeeded in penetrating into the river, but was
soon after wrecked at the rapids. At last the American Chaille-Long, in the
service of the Khedive, successfully crossed the bar in 1875, and ascended the river

AFRICA IV. c c

886

SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

for 165 miles above its mouth. He was followod iu 1891 by Captain Dundas, R.N.,
who took the steamer Kenia to Bordera, 387 miles from the estuary, and, after a
struggle with the natives, 20 miles liighor np to the rapids at the head of the
navigation in the heart of "Somalilaud.'

The waters of the river being arrested at its mouth by the chain of red sand-
hills which here fringes the coast, are displaced towards the south-west, and con-
sequently flow in the same direction as the coastline and the neighbouring murine
current. In this direction are also disposed the lateral lagoons and swampy
depressions which have been developed above the estuary, and which receive the
overflow from the mainstream during the periodical inundations. The river Sheri,

Fig. 120. — LOWEE COUESE OP THE WebI.
Scale 1 : 3,600.000.

^v^

^•.

y .y^ ii r J-- — - ■ —

,2*

0*.

=-=— — ^— =— =— ^

45.' East oF Greeowich

45'

60 Miles.

which takes its rise in this marshy district, and which flows south-westwards in a
depression parallel with the coast and chain of dunes, seems to be nothing more
than an old branch of the Juba, although the two estuaries are now separated by a
distance of no less than 80 miles.

The southern estuary, known to the Somali as Mto Bubashi, and by the
English called Port Durnford, was for a short time held by the Germans,
who re-named it Hohenzollern-Hafen. It forms an excellent harbour, where
the largest vessels can ride at anchor in smooth water for some miles above the bar.
OS" the coast and parallel with it stretches a barrier reef, which indicates the future
shore-line in process of formation. Here all such physical features as sandhills.

THE WEBI EIVEE. 387

water-courses, beach, shoals, and reefs are iiniformly disposed in precisely the
same direction from north-east to south-west.

Another Webi, like the Gugsa Webi which rises in Kaffaland, has also its chief
sources in Ethiopia, but farther north in the Gurage district, and on the off-shoots
of the border range, some little distance south of the Awash. This Webi which,
in its middle course, becomes the Webi Shebeli, or " Leopard River," is fed by
the waters of an extensive area of drainage. All the torrents between Gurage and
the Harrar country converge towards this important watercourse ; but all do not
reach the mainstream, especially in the dry season, while several are lost in
saline depressions without any outflow.

During the floods the Webi overflows its banks like another Nile, fertilising
the rich plains of Ogaden, the " earthly paradise of Somali Land." Like the Juba,
it sweeps round to the south in its lower course ; but as it approaches the coast it
has no longer sufficient vigour to force its way seaward through the intervening
chain of sandhills. Hence it skirts the inner base of these dunes in a perfectly
straight line for a distance of about 165 miles, and at last runs out in a marshy
depression before reaching the left bank of the Juba. Thus is presented the singular
and extremely rare phenomenon of a not inconsiderable watercourse which, after
vainly endeavouring to pierce the sandy barrier intercepting its seaward course,
follows the inner face of this rampart, like some broad and deep moat artificially
excavated for defensive purposes. This Tuni, or narrow maritime zone, separating
the river from the Indian Ocean, has an average breath of scarcely more than
twelve miles. The long line of sandhills is here and there strengthened by some
rocky masses which are evidently upheaved reefs.

All the other watercourses which, north of the Webi, traverse the Somali country
as it gradually tapers towards the north-east, also fail to reach the Indian Ocean,
except perhaps after unusually heavy downpours. The moisture, however, collected
in their sandy beds suffices at least to nourish a somewhat scanty growth of
riverain shrubs. The largest of these inland or intermittent fluvial basins has its
rise immediately to the east of the Webi, in the Harrar mountains, and under the
name of Tug Faf terminates its arrested course in a marshy depression within the
'territory of the Hawiyah people. Another fay or wady, which takes its origin to
the south of the Berbera hills, runs out in the country of the Mijertin Somalis,
more than 120 miles from the sea. The last of these wadys comprised within
the oceanic area of drainage is the Tug Darror, or " River of Fogs," whose valley
lies between the Ras Haf un and Cape Guardafui.

On the slopes draining to the Gulf of Aden, the beds of the torrents are nothing
more than short ravines excavated in the thickness of the escarpment. Here
running waters are as scarce as in the corresponding gorges on the opposite coast
of Arabia.

Climate.

In the southern district the climate of Somali Land resembles that of Zanzibar ;
on the northern slope facing the Gulf of Aden, it corresponds with that of South

888 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

Arabia ; towards the west, that is, on the terraces and spurs of the Ethiopian
highlands, it diHers little from that of Shea. No doubt this region, taken as a
whole, is comprised within the influence of the north-east trade winds ; but these
atmospheric currents are frequently deflected from their normal course by the
changes of barometric pressure and temperature, by which they are attracted
towards the interior, at one time of the ^Vfrican at another of the Arabian penin-
sula.

During the winter months of the northern hemisphere, from October to March,
the north-east trade winds prevail with most uniformity, blowing at this period
mainly parallel with the south-west coast of Somali Land. During the summer
months the normal winds are reversed, and the monsoon then veers round towards
the north-west, and even the north. Partial shiftings also deflect the atmospheric
current in the direction of the west, and they are then accompanied by fogs and
vapour-charged clouds from the Indian Ocean.

The mean winter temperature ranges from about 75° to 79° or 80° F., while
that of summer is seldom more than 86° F. According to Menges, the range for
the whole year scarcely exceeds an extreme deviation of 20° F. between the hot
and cold seasons, at least on the Berbera coast.* The regular winter rains, which
however are rarely very copious and attended only by comparatively mild thunder
storms, are due to the north-east monsoons, which prevail from December to March.
As a rule, this season is marked rather by fair weather and clear skies, or else by
light clouds, which drift over the coastlands without precipitating any moisture.
The true wet season is ushered in with the southern monsoon, which lasts from
April to July or August, and which is accompanied by tremendous hurricanes
beating furiously against this exposed seaboard. Farther inland the mostly
waterless wadys and torrents are now flushed by the tropical downpours, and the
arid wastes bloom again for a brief interval.

This rainy period, the ga or gugi of the Somali, is followed by the haga, when
the skies are overcast, but no moisture falls, and the surface of the land resumes its
usual arid aspect. The C3'cle of the seasons is completed by the dair, the coldest
period, and the Jilal, a dry month which precedes the return of the heavy rains.
These various seasons are delayed in the direction from east to west, that is to Say,
from the coastlands towards the inland plateaux ; but here the rain-bearing clouds,
being arrested by the slopes of the mountains, discharge a more abundant rainfall
than along the seaboard. The average annual rainfall on the Shoa highlands is
estimated at about forty inches.

Flora.

In the low-lying districts the soil, being badly watered, is naturally unproduc-
tive except in a few favoured localities, where the vegetation vies in splendour
and exuberance with that of the Indian seaboard under the same latitudes. But
elsewhere the few scanty wells or reservoirs and rivulets of brackish water are
insufficient to support anything beyond a poor stunted flora scattered thinly over

• November 28Ui, at night, 68° F. April 2nd during the day, 89° to 90° F.

FAUNA OF SOMALI LAND. 389

■wide spaces. Along the seacoast little is seen but the plants characteristic of
alkaline soils, except in the vicinity of the wadys, which are often fringed with
leafy trees. On the hills and uplands the prevailing forms are gum-pelding
acacias, mimosas, euphorbias, and the aromatic growths from which are obtained
the frankincense and myrrh of commerce, and for which this region, like the
opposite coast of Arabia, has always been famous. Some authorities have even
derived the very word myrrh itself from the Marehan (properly Murreyhan) tribe,
in whose territory it is obtained in the greatest perfection, although it seems more
probably connected with a Semitic root mar, or miir, meaning " bitter." Another
curious member of this family is the Olihamtm, or BosweJHa, which grows on the
bare rocks, to which its white roots seem glued as with a coating of mastic.

Nevertheless a leafy vegetation becomes continually more prevalent in the
direction of the south. Clumps of the date-palm occur only in the neighbourhood
of the coast towns ; but even here the fniit never comes to maturity, the Somali
not ha\-ing yet learnt the art of fertilising the female plant, an art of which the
Arab date merchants are careful to keep them in ignorance. The dum palm is
met in a few isolated spots, but the banana is nowhere seen beyond the gardens of
the seaboard district.

On the uplands of the interior, botanists have collected a large number of new
species. Here some of the more abundantly watered mountain slopes, such as
those of Gan Libash, present a magnificent vegetation rivalling in beauty that of
the Abj'ssinian highlands. In these districts the naturalist Menges has found
the giant juniper and the superb jibara, with its mass of bright blossom rising
several yards above the foliage. The coffee shrub also flourishes on the spurs and
offshoots of the Shoa highlands. The central territory of Ogaden, which stands
at a mean elevation of about 3,000 feet, presents, except in a few more favoured
localities, the aspect of a vast region oj steppes. After the light showers to which
it is exposed the whole surface is converted into a boundless sea of tall grasses
interrupted in some places by tracts of shingly wastes.

j^ Fauna.

The fauna of Somali Land differs little from that of the Galla country in the
Ethiopian uplands, except that it becomes continually pooier in the direction of
the coastlands. The elephant and other large animals roam only in the southern
and western parts of the country, which are more copiously watered and have a
correspondingly richer vegetation. Numerous herds of elephants climb the difficult
escarpments of the Gan Libash, which man himself is scarcely able to ascend.
They also frequent the Ogaden steppes, and are said to withdraw to the banks of
the Webi at the approach of death.

In the northern regions the forests, bush, and stony tracts harbour various
species of monkeys, a prevalent tj'pe being that of the cynocephalous, or dog-faced
apes. Carnivorous beasts, such as the lion, leopard, panther, jackal, hycena, and
other felidae, infest the Ogaden steppe, while all the plateaxix are roamed by the

890 SOUTU AND EAST AFRICA.

ostrich and herds of wild asses, gazelles, and antelopes, amongst which Mcnges
has discovered a new species, the curious " harnessed " antelope, with a comhination
of white stripes and spots on a grejash brown ground, somewhat resembling the
trappings of a horse. Hares and other rodents are common on the coastlands. but
the li\ely macrosceliden, which differ from the shrew chiefly in the greater length
of the hind legs, and which French writers cull the rat a trompe (Macroscc/idcs
Rozeti), keep chiefly to the dry rocky places, looking at a distance like squirrels,
and continually hopping about, after the manner of kangaroos, in search of insects
and other small animals.

Amongst the lizard tribe occurs the remarkable agama Rtieppellii, which
changes its colour when an attempt is made to seize it. Another curious member
of this familj- is the Uromastix batilliferus, which hides in the fissures of the rocks,
presenting to its pursuer nothing but its tail armed with sharp spines. Indigenous
in Somali Land is the Acrylliiuti rulturinum, the finest ■s'ariety of the guinea-fowl,
which has the head of a vulture and many of its habits, for it feeds not onlj' on
corn but also on insects and carrion.

The naturalists who have visited this region, notably Von der Decken and
Revoil, have discovered several new species of molluscs and insects, as well as a
new termite, which builds tall nests in the form of obelisks. In the neighbouring
waters the fishermen capture many sharks, whose flesh is prepared for the Zanzibar
market and the fins exported to China, where this gelatinous article of diet is
highly esteemed as a choice delicacy.

Inhabitants. ^

The inhabitants of Somali Land were known to the ancient Egj^tians under the
general name of Punt. In one of the temples at Thebes, Deir-el-Bahari, Diimisten
and Mariette have discovered some remarkable mural paintings, which represent
the paj-ment of tribute in gums, frankincense, and myrrh, offered to the queen of
the Egj-ptians by the people of Punt. The figures themselves wear the same garb
and have the same genei-al appearance as the present Somali people. At that time
they had already a knowledge of metals, so that the stone implements discovered
in many parts of the country must belong to a prehistoric period, at least three
thousand six hundred, and more probably over five thousand years, removed from
our days. Nevertheless, most of the Somali, ignorant of their true descent, and as
zealous Mussulmans anxious to include some saint of Islam amongst their ancestry,
pretend to be sprung from a family of Koreish Arabs. Like their Danakil neigh-
bours, they even claim close kinship with the Prophet's family, and point to a house
still existing in Mecca which was the residence of their forefathers. According
to one tradition, their direct progenitor was a certain Sherif Ishak ben Ahmed, who
crossed over from Hadramaut with forty followers about five hundred j'ears ago.
But other legends go much farther back, tracing their descent from the Himyarite
chiefs, Sanhaj and Samamah, said to have been contemporaries of a mythical king

INHABIT ANTS OF SOMALI LAND. 391

Afrikus, who is supposed to have conquered the whole continent and given it his
name about the year 400 of the new era.

Unfortunately the ruins discovered in various parts of the country are so shape-
less that it is no longer possible to tell from the style of architecture whether they
are to be attributed to Egyptian, Assyrian, Persian, or other ancient builders. A
thousand different obiects, however, have also been found which attest a lon*-
standing commercial intercourse with all the maritime regions connected by the
yearly alternating trade-winds. Amongst these objects are glazed earthenware,
enamels, and glass, stone and alabaster vases, pearls, and other gems, which clearly
show that the ancestors of the Somali people maintained extensive relations with
the flourishing and industrious nations of the East. The sudden destruction of any
present trading place on the seaboard woidd not reveal to future treasure-seekers
amongst its debris so many remarkable objects as have been found amid the
ruins of the cities overthrown two or three thousand years ago.

Nimierous barrows, or sepulchral moimds, dating from those remote times, still
exist in certain parts of the country. They generally consist of pyramidal piles
of stones interspersed with shells, fishbones, and implements belonging to the
successive stone, bronze, and iron ages. The graves that have been rifled in the
neighbourhood of Zeila appear to be of Galla origin, and the natives of this district
point to the site of an " immense city," which is also said to have belonged to the
Galla people. Yet no settlements of any Galla tribes are now found nearer to
Zeila than the Harrar territory, which is distant about 120 miles to the south.
Doubtless extensive migrations and shiftings of populations here took place in
former times, and similar changes and displacements, especially of the nomad
communities, are stiU continued in our days as actively as ever.

The Somali.

There can be no doubt that, taken collectively, the Somali belong to the same
ethnical group as the Danakil on their northern and the Gallas on their western
and southern borders. In several places along the frontiers it is even difficult to
decide on the true nationality of the intermediate populations, so indistinct are the
transitional t}-peB. Nor has the term Somal itself any very definite meaning, in
virtue of which it may be unhesitatingly applied to all the inhabitants of the
region comprised between Tajurah Bay and the Juba River. According to Hilde-
brandt, this ethnical designation has the sense of " black," or " swarthy," a
description which does not hold good for all the Somali people, although they are
on the whole of a somewhat darker complexion than either their Danakil or their
Galla neighbours. Other etymologists have interpreted the word in the more
disparaging sense of " miscreant," " ferocious," or " truculent," while the Somali
themselves offer no explanation of their general appellation. By the Gallas they
are called Tumr, a name which is also of uncertain origin and meaning.

The country is designated by the Arabs as the Barr-es- Somal, that is to say,
the " Abode of the Somali," although the limits of this " abode " are far from

:892

SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

being determined with any attempt at accuracy. Southwards the race is rapidly
encroaching on the conterminous popiilations of Galla and Bantu origin. Till
recently the Juba River had been indicated as the southern frontier of the Somali
■domain, but during the last few years the Somali have advanced as far as the

Fig. 121. — Somali Teeeitobt.
Scale 1 : 10,000,000.

OtoBOO
Fathoms.

Depths.

500 to 1.000
Fathoms.

1 ,000 Fathoms and
upwards.

180 Miles.

Tana, that is to say, 270 miles farther south, and they have even crossed this
river, as if to join hands with the equally aggressive Masai invaders. On the
other hand, at the opposite extremity of their territory, that is, on the shores of
the Gulf of Aden, they are in their turn retiring before the Danakil nomads.
One might almost say that a sort of ethnological equilibrium is being established

Q-.
>

<
o

■j:

THE SOMALI EACE. ' 393

in the direction from north to south, corresponding with the alternating coast
streams and trade winds of the same region.

The Somali people can scarcely be said to have a common racial type, so great
is the diversity in the physical appearance of the different tribes and nations, a
difference which is itself mainly due partly to the differences in the social habits,
partly to the varying climatic conditions and ethnical interminglings. Neverthe-
less the Somali may in a general way be said to resemble the Danakils, although
as a rule they are taller* and less robust ; the figure is also somewhat more slim,
the bearing more martial, the complexion darker. The figure seems all the taller
that the head is smaller ia proportion to the size of the body. Scarcely any
invalids are found amongst them, although they age rapidly. A yoimg man not
more than twenty years old may sometimes be taken for one of forty, while one
of forty looks like a venerable patriarch. Many who are in complexion as black
as the Shilluks of the White Nile, or the Senegambian Wolofs, have nevertheless
the same regularity and even delicacy of features as the very finest Europeans.
The women especially are often admired for their harmony of expression and
dignified carriage, as well as for their soft and musical voice. On these points
very strong testimony is given amongst others by Captain Wharton, who spent
some time in 1884 surveying the Somali seaboard, and describes the coast tribes
near the equator as the handsomest race of men and women he had ever seen,
black in colour, but with magnificent physique.t At the same time the life of
hardship led by the women gives them almost a decrepit look before they are
th irty years old, and this effect is intensified by the tendency to steatopygia which
is very common amongst the married women.

The models of physical beaut}' so frequently met amongst the Somali have by
some authorities been attributed to crossings with non-African populations, and
especially with the Semites of the neighbouring Arabian peninsula. Such inter-
minglings have certainly taken place, and during the centuries when active com-
mercial relations were carried on all along the seaboard, Aryan influences,
represented both by the Greeks and Persians, may even have had some share in
modifying the primitive Somali type. But on the other hand many so-called
Negro populations in the interior of the continent are also known to be distin-
guished by the almost classic outlines of their features. The closest resemblance
to the Arabs in physiognomy, as well as in social habits, is found amongst the
tribes of the coastlands. The western Somali, and especially the Issa people, who
dwell nearer to the Gallas, in the same way show a corresponding closer resem-
blance to the type of that race, being distinguished from the other Somali bj- a
broader face and coarser features. The flat features and high cheek-bones,
characteristic of the true Negro type, are most prevalent in the southern districts,
and especially amongst the Rahanuin conquerors, who have already come in con-
tact with the Bantu populations of the Tana basin.

* Stature of the Somali according to Paulitschke's measurements : Habr Awal tribe, 6 feet 2 inches ;
Issa tribe, 5 feet 11 inches ; Gadibursi tribe, 5 feet 10 inches,
t Froceediftgs of the Soyal Geographical Society, October, 1885.

894

SOUTH AND EAST .VFEICA.

The Somali language, of which grammars, vocabularies, and collections of
national proverbs have already been published, conKrms the evidences of kinship
with the surrounding Danakil and Galla peoples, which have been derived from
their physical appearance and traditions. Nevertheless a considerable number of
Arabic words, and even expressions, have been introduced into the current speech,
through the frequent relations which the Somali have maintained with the Arabs
ever since the Mohammedan religion has been spread throughout the region of
plateaux and uplands stretching between the sea and the Ethiopian highlands.

Fi^. 122. — Somali Woman.

The few natives who have any knowledge of letters make use of the characters
employed by their Arab teachers, from whom they have also borrowed numerous
social and religious institutions.

The inhabitants of the northern districts lying nearest to Arabia scrupulously
observe the prescribed rites, never failing to repeat the prayers at the stated times
in all the towns, wherever a hovel is to be found dignified bj- the name of mosque.
Thej- are summoned in the usual waj' by a muezzin, or crier, while the sacred
ritual is recited by Arab priests. Travellers never leave their homes without

THE SOMALI EACE. 895

providing themselves with the wooden bowl required to hold the water for the
customary ablutions. Adults also shave their heads in the Mussulman fashion,
and wear a costume almost identical with that of the Arabs.

But throughout the inland districts and in all the southern parts of the country
the natives have preserved their animistic superstitions and a manner of life more
analogous to that of the Danakil and Beja Hamites. The men still swear by the
rocks and worship large trees. They wear the loin-cloth combined with a sort of
white cotton toga, which is draped in Greek fashion, usually leaving the right
shoulder exposed. When travelling they wear sandals, and generally plaster their
abundant head of hair with a preparation of lime and clay, which serves the double
purpose of protecting it from the heat of the sun and getting rid of troublesome
parasites. In order not to disarrange the head-dress, they sleep with the neck
resting on little wooden blocks or pillows, like those commonly met in Japan and
amongst most people of Central Africa.

A great number of the Somali have also their ears pierced in the Bantu fashion,
although the lobe is seldom distended by the insertion of hea\y wood, mother-of-
pear, ivory, bone or metal ornaments. Round the neck, however, they wear
strings of large amber or coral beads, and some still practise tattooing on the arms,
breast, and other parts ; but these designs have no longer any symbolic or distinc-
tive meaning, as amongst most of the southern tribes. Like the Beja, the Somali
wears in his hair a carved scraper, and makes constant use of his scented wood
toothpick, so that his teeth are always immaculately white.

The women wear a red skirt and white toga fastened round the waist with a
coloured girdle ; they are also generally more overladen with ornaments than the
men, all displaying pendants attached to the ears, necklaces, rings, bracelets,
charms, chains, and other trinkets. Custom requires boys to be circumcised in
their third year, while girls when six years old are subjected to a still more cruel
operation. In times of sickness, and even when small-pox is prevalent, the victims
are occasionally abandoned to the lions, hysenas, and other wild beasts of the
wilderness.

Like most people that eat at irregular times and have often to go for long
periods without food, the Somali are, according to circumstances, great gluttons or
models of sobriety. None except the fishermen of the seaboard districts ever
touch fish ; nor will they eat even game or eggs, and also scrupulously abstain from
the flesh of animals forbidden by the precepts of the Koran. Antelopes and gazelles
are left to the pariah or outcast populations. Coffee also is very little used as a
drink in Somali Land, although it is often eaten after the Galla fashion, that is,
reduced to a powder and kneaded uj) with butter, the same mixture being at the
same time used for lubricating the body. The consumption of alcoholic drinks is
strictly forbidden, except in the Ogaden country, where a fermented beverage is
made of camels' milk. Tobacco is little smoked, but is taken in the form of snufE
and also chewed mixed with ashes. Like the Harrari people, the Somali also meet
together in the evening to masticate the leaves of kat {Celasfnis edu/is), which acts
as a stimulant, enabling them to prolong their vigils through the night. This is

396 SOUTU AND EAST AFRICA.

a convenience, for they are great talkers, as well as very eager for news, so much
so that the Somali plants his spear at the entrance to his village to indicate that
the road is barred to strangers until they have informed him of all the tidings from
the distant parts whence they have arrived.

Somali Land has for ages been wasted by incessant tribal warfare. " The only
field here cultivated," says M. Revoil, in the figurative language of the East, " is
the field of death." Being divided into a great number of petty states, the people
are almost constantly at feud with each other. Each suspects his neighbour and
the warrior never goes abroad unarmed. The rich man has his gun, purchased in
one of the seaport towns ; the poor have their spear and their dart, occasionally sup-
plemented by a murderous double-edged blade and a knobkerrj" for braining the
enemy that falls in the combat. Like the Masai, the Somali warrior usually
" stands at ease "by leaning on his spear and bending the right leg, somewhat after
the fashion of persons walking on stilts. He is proud of having killed his man,
and to commemorate the event either adds an ostrich plimie to his headdress or
wears an ivory bracelet on his wrist.

In some districts the friends of the departed hero pile round his grave as many
blocks as the victims that have fallen to his prowess. But it is fair to state that
if the Somali takes the life of his adversary without a pang, he is himself equally
indifferent to the same fate. When wounded he suffers without a murmur, and
holds out his arm unflinchingly to the native surgeon, who cauterises it in his
primitive way with fire or a red-hot iron. Thanks also to the climate, the Somali
frequently recovers from wounds that would inevitably prove fatal to a European.

If it is honourable to kill, it is no less glorious to plunder, provided always that
it be done in open warfare. No one steals in time of peace, "because all the Somali
are brothers," and no one takes the superfluous trouble to close his house. But all
are free to attack the stranger, who dare not even venture to penetrate into their
territory until he has first procured by purchase an abaii, that is, a protector or
patron in the tribe. When a vessel is wrecked on their inhospitable shores all claim
the established rights of flotsam and jetsam, and the wreckers hasten to the spot
from distances of sixty or seventy miles round about. Not a single household in the
whole of the Guardafui peninsula but has some objects to show which belonged
to Europeans wrecked on the surrounding seaboard. Graves mentions a famous
sheikh, a very pious devotee, who lived near the cape, and who, during the bad
season, was handsomely feed to invoke Allah night and day in order to bring about
the wreck of passing Christian vessels. But it should be remembered that not so
very long ago the villages along the west coast of France and south coast of England
not only prayed for such contingencies, but set up false beacons to allure their
victims to destruction.

The Somali of the coastlands, and notably the Mijertin people, would consider
themselves degraded by cultivating the land. They are shepherds, fishermen,
sailors, or traders, but not husbandmen. Some are even daring mariners, who in
their light dhows of forty or fifty tons burden venture on long voyages to Bombay
and Zanzibar. A great many live a half-nomad existence, following their flocks

SOMALI TRIBES. 397

from pasturage to pasturage in the grassy regions of the interior. The industries,
by far the most important of which is the manufacture of matting, are almost
entirely in the hands of the women, who are all very laborious.

Few of the tribes make any use of the horse, and it seems probable that this
animal was not introduced into the country till comparatively recent times. It
even still bears its Arab name of farm. According to Sottiro, every village in the
Ogaden territory keeps a park of a few dozen ostriches, which feed apart under
the charge of children, and which pass the night in the huts ; during the migra-
tions they also join the caravan in company with the camels. But they are not
allowed to breed in captivity, and the domestic stock is consequently kept up
altogether by capturing the wild birds in the chase, or perhaps taking them when
young.

Slavery is unknown amongst the northern Somali tribes, who kill but neither
buy nor sell their fellow-men. But the case is different in the central and southern
regions, where a section of the population is reduced to servitude, and where the
slaves themselves are treated with horrible cruelty. Nearly all these unhappy
wretches have their feet shackled with two rings connected by an iron bar ; they
eat nothing but refuse, yet they are compelled daily to drag themselves to the fields
and till the land under the broiling sun. Every fault is punished with tortures,
and under these circumstances it is not surprising that the slaves frequently seek
in a voluntary death relief from their miserable existence.

In many districts the Somali warriors are addicted to slave-hunting, and the
captures made by them serve as the current standard of exchange, the trade value of
this " commodity " being estimated at from a hundred and twenty to a hundred
and fifty dollars. It also frequently happens that the Somali treat the members of
their own family as slaves. " If you despise not wife, child, and servant, you shall
yourself be despised," says a local proverb. According to Burton, the young
married man welcomes his bride whip in hand, and begins by giving her a sound
thrashing, in order to establish his authority over her from the outset. Neverthe-
less, the women move about freely enough in the rural districts. As in other
Mohammedan countries, the husband repudiates his wife whenever the whim takes
him, and at his death she becomes the inheritance of his surviving brother. Most
of the divorced or otherwise disgraced women enter into the service of the caravans
as water-carriers.

Tribal Groups. — The Rahanuin.

Being destitute of all national cohesion, the Somali are divided and subdivided
into a multiplicity of rers or fakidas, that is, tribes and septs, which band together
or break into fresh fragments according to the vicissitudes of wars and alliances.
Nevertheless, in the midst of all these minute divisions the existence may be recog-
nised of three main ethnical families or tribal groups : the Rahaiuiin in the south,
the Hawiya in the centre, and the Hashiya in the north.

The Rahanuin or Rahhanwin, who are constantly at war with the Gallae and

398 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

Bantus, whom they have gradually driven southwards to and beyond the Tana
river, are the least known of all the Somali peoples, the very names of most of the
clans belonging to this warlike nation being still unrecorded in ethnological
works. Along the banks of the "Wcbi, of which they hold the south side, they
are collectively called Gobron ; farther south, that is, in the narrow peninsula
comprised between the Webi and the Benadir territory on the seaboard, dwell the
Tuni, most peaceful of all the Somali tribes, who, instead of the spear, go about
armed only with a stick. The Rahanuin division also includes, according to
Paulitschkc, the Abgal people, who occupy the north side of the Webi. The
Abgals, who are noted for their exceptional ferocity, still live at enmity with all
the surrounding tribes, and are here and there even still opposed to the doctrines
of Islam. All these fakidas are in a state of constant warfare with those of the
Hawiya division.

TUK HaWIY.4S and MlDGANS.

The Ilawiyas, who are dominant in Ogaden, that is, the great central territory
of Somali Laud, are certainly the most powerful of all the Somali people. M. Eevoil
describes them as less bellicose than the other branches of the race, but at the
same time more fanatical and more dangerous to foreigners. They belong to a
distinct Mohammedan sect, which, to judge from their practices, seems in some way
akin or analogous to that of the Wahabites in Central Arabia. According to the
accounts received by Sottiro, the Hawiyas have a large infusion of Galla blood, to
which may perhaps be attributed the fact that their complexion is of a lighter
shade than that of the seaboard tribes. In the inland regions most of them appear
to be settled agriculturists, which is doubtless due to the greater elevation of this
region, which is also better watered and more fertile than the low-lying coast-
lands. In Ogaden, a land of pasturage and of cattle, they are on the contrary all
nomads.

In several parts of their domain the Hawiyas are nimierically in a minority.
In fact in these districts they constitute a higher caste of political nders, who re-
gard with contempt the bulk of the inhabitants as belonging to alien tribes, or even
to conquered races. Thus the Adone people, who occupy the southern parts of
Ogaden, differ altogether from the Somali proper, and according to their language
and social habits should rather be grouped with the Bantu populations. The
Adone idiom is closely related to the Ki-Swaheli of the Zanzibar coastlands.

The two castes of the Yebirs and Tomuls, who, like the European gipsies, are the
fortime-tellers, blacksmiths, and tinkers of these regions, are also regarded as tribes
of different origin from the true Hawiyas. The Yebirs are somewhat addicted to
magic practices, such as manufacturing amulets, conjuring snakes, healing the sick,
casting lots, and interpreting omens. They also take a leading part in all feasts
and public ceremouies. The Tomals, called also Handads, forge the spear-heads ;
but although indispensable to the community they are kept beyond the precincts of
the villages, and obliged to marry amongst themselves, being despised and feared
as baneful magicians.

SOMALI TRIBES. 399

In still greater contempt are held the Midgans, called also Rami, that is to say
" Archers," who are universally regarded as the lowest of the low. They worship
trees and snakes, and eat all the prohibited food, such as fish, fowl, eggs, hares,
and gazelles. They are also daring hiinters, fearlessly attacking the lion and the
elephant, whom they pierce with their poisoned arrows. Like the Yebirs, the
Midgans also practise medicine, and have the reputation of being extremely clever
charlatans. According to the Somali legends, the lower castes are the issue of
crossings between Abyssinian women and maleficent genii, while the Midgans are
of still more degraded origin, their ancestors having been the slaves of these Abys-
sinian women.

The Hashiyas.

The Hashiyas, or Northern Somali, more commonly known by the name of Aji,
have evidently been most affected by contact and family alliances with the Arabs.
So far as they are concerned, the national traditions are to some extent justified
and the Hashiyas may to a certain degree trace their genealogies back to the
Koreish family of the Hashims, one of whose warriors, named Arab, is supposed to
have emigrated to Africa towards the end of the twelfth century, or less than six
hundred years after the Hegira. His residence, which became the capital of a
powerful empire, is said to have been discovered at Zeila, or in the vicinity of that
place.

The Hashiyas are subdivided into two main groups, respectively named Tarud
(Darode), that is, the "Banished," and Ishak, from two descendants of Arab.
From Tarud are descended the Mijertins, most famous of aU the Hashiya nations,
comprising some thirty tribal groups under the common suzerainty of a boghor, or
sultan. To the Ishak branch belong the Issa, or better Eissa, and the Gadabursi,
who occupy the shores of Tajurrah Bay and the districts about Zeila and Berbera,
and are consequently of all the Somali people the best known to Europeans.
With the same branch are grouped the Habr Tol, Habr Ghar Haji, Habr Awal,
and the other tribes whose name is preceded by the word habr. In the Somali lan-
guage this word habr has the meaning of "grandmother," "venerable matron,"
and seems to indicate a faint reminiscence of a previous social system in which
descent was reckoned only through the female line, as is still the case amongst
many African populations. If this conjecture be correct, traces of the matriarchal
state would thus still survive amongst these fierce Somali populations who at pre-
sent treat their women with so much contempt. It is noteworthy that amongst
the three above-mentioned Habr tribes are found the very finest specimens of the
Somali t;i-pe.

The south-western Hashiyas — Ghirri, Bersub, and Bertiri — appear to be allied
to the Gallas, and jointly with the Jerso, one of the tribes of this nation, they even
constitute a worra, or political confederacy, worra being a Galla word meaning
"clan," or "family." In this region commercial relations and the development of
social intercourse between the conterminous tribes have arrested the devastating

400 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. '

wars which almost everywhere else are incessantly carried on between the Somali
and Galla populations.

The Eastern Gallas.

The Gallas, who give themselves the general designations of Oromo, that is
" Men," or " Brave," and Ilm-Orma, that is, "Sons of Men," are more commonly
known to their Somali enemies by the appellation of Durr. that is, " vile," or
" abject." But although thus despised by the neighbouring Somali people, the
Gallas greatly surpass them in intelligence, love of industry, peaceful habits, and
trustworthiness. They are also far more numerous, thanks to the fertility of their
plains, whose light reddish soil they diligently cultivate.

According to the Egyptian officers, who till 1884 held command in the city
of Harrar, there was a population of several millions in the province of the Upper
Webi annexed to the Khedival possessions. PauHtschke, however, while confirm-
ing the reports regarding the extremely dense population of this region, reduces
to about 1,300,000 the probable number of north-eastern Gallas concentrated in
the Upper "Webi basin. The southern districts, that is, the valleys watered by
the streams flowing to the Juba and the Tana, are also very thickly peopled. The
Gallas who dwell beyond the limits of Ethiopia, properly so called, that is, on the
slopes draining to the Indian Ocean, cannot in any case be estimated at less than
three millions. On the other hand, the whole of the Somali territory contains a
population of scarcely one million, of whom about 100,000 belong to the great Mi-
jertin nation. The Somali occupying the coastlands along the Gulf of Aden
between the Jebel Karoma and the Gan Libash, are estimated by M. Be'voil at
scarcely more than 30,000 altogether.

Nevertheless in these incessant border feuds, the aggressors are invariably the
numerically inferior Somali tribes. These fierce nomads, who go about constantly
armed and ready for the fight, and who are alwa3-8 lying in ambush to fall
unawares on the foe, have naturally a great advantage over the sedentary Gallas,
occupied chiefly with the cultivation of their durrah fields. But on the verge of
the desert stretching north of the Harrar Mountains some of these Galla tribes
have, as nomad pastors, adopted the habits and customs of their hereditary enemies.
In order to resist the aggressors, who are attracted chiefly by the love of pillage
and the hope of plimder, the Oromo have in many places been obliged to abandon
their fertile plains and settled habitations, or else sink to the position of serfs,
mere " hewers of wood and drawers of water " to the rapacious Somali marauders.
In the extreme southern regions they have already ceased to defend the territory
comprised between the rivers Juba and Tana. But in the northern districts they
still show a bold front to the enemj-, and here the river Errer, a main branch of
the Webi or Harrar, has not yet been crossed by their adversaries. Strict watch
is constantlj' kept against the raiders by the Enniya tribe all along the frontiers of
the conterminous domains.

In any case the Gallas certainly vindicate their claim to the national desig-

GALLA TYPES.

THE EASTEEN GALLAS. 401

nation of " Brave," and even when inferior in numbers they have frequently
enough repelled the attacks of the SomaK nomads, and even of regular troops.
"When the city of Harrar was still held by the Egyptian forces, who were con-
stantly endeavoxiring to extend the Khedival authority over the surrounding
Galla popidations, the Oromo warriors, armed only with sword and dagger, were
often seen hurling themselves desperately against disciplined regiments equipped
with firearms. Rushing forward to the battle-cry of " Kukuku ! kukuku!" they
more than once threw the hostile forces into confusion, and even occasionally
put them to flight. But like their kinsmen of the Ethiopian highlands, the
eastern tribes shamefully mutilate the dead.

These eastern tribes differ from the other branches of the Galla race only in a
few trivial respects, and some customs borrowed from thc'r Danakil, Somali, or
Masai neighbours. In their physical appearance they show no inferiority, while
their women display the same elegant proportions, the same gracefvil carriage, and
occasionally even the same nobility of expression. The Gallas are a sound stock,
not yet sapped by inherited ailments, and unlike the Somali, are a long-lived
people amongst whom centenarians are by no means rare. Cheerful and impulsive,
but with a well-balanced temperament, they seldom yield to their angry feelings,
at least in the presence of strangers. They are a warm-hearted, kindly people, in
this also favoiirably distinguished from their Somali neighbours, amongst whom
cruelty and treachery are characteristic vices. The Gallas are moreover dis-
tinguished from their Somali neighbours by their cleanly habits, shown especially
in their tidy, well-swept dwellings. They also display great skill in the cultiva-
tion of their land, maintaining its fertility by systematic manuring and a due
rotation of crops. Certainly the Gallas, although hitherto giving little or no proof
of any common national sentiment, are one of the African nations which may look
forward to a bright future of social progress, and even take its share in the
general work of human advancement.

Under the Egyptian rule, the Gallas of the Harrar district had been fain to
accept as masters a number of foreign officials whose functions were almost exclu-
sively restricted to the collection of the Government taxes. At present these same
Gallas, together with a large section of those dwelling east of the Ethiopian high-
lands, are subject to the sway of the Emperor Menelik ; but elsewhere the
tribes have maintained their primitive autonomy. The community is organised on
republican principles. The administration of the commune is invariably entrusted
to a council of elders, whose moti, or president, is charged with the executive
functions. With him are associated the treasurer, the high priest, and the boku,
or director of the general assembly, these ministers being usually chosen for a
period of eight years. The director or " speaker," who presides over the public
discussions, holding a wooden mace as the sign of his office, is required to keep
the debate open until absolute unanimity is arrived at. All have the right of veto,
as in the old Polish Diet, and the consequence is that the deHberalions are
frequently continued from session to session, the principle of " closure " not having
yet been introduced. But once a final decision is reached, the question assumes a

AFRICA IV. Cl d

402 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

sacred character. The forefathers of the tribe are invoked, and in their honour is
immolated a spotless steer ; the boku imbues his sceptre with the blood, and the
priests, coiling the entrails round their neck and arms, traverse the land, proclaim-
ing to all the people the resolutions taken by the national assembly.

At other times special functionaries are despatched along the caravan routes, in
order to gather from foreign traders tidings of the outer world. Nothing escapes
the ears of these public agents which may in any waj' interest the members of
their community. Like the old Greek euxenoi, they are also required to represent
the citizens with all strangers, to introduce them into the villages and offer them
the bowl of milk, symbol of hospitality. One of the elders is also required, by
way of blessing, to expectorate after the Masai fashion three times on the clothes
of the stranger.

Being nearly all subjects of Abyssinia, the eastern Qallas differ from those
of the Ethiopian highlands more in their religious than in their political
relations. Most of the western Gallas are still pagans, worshipping trees, moun-
tains, and flowers, while numerous tribes have also become members of the
Abyssinian Christian Church ; amongst these highland populations the Moham-
medans are thus everj'wherc in a minority. But in the region of the eastern
slopes and plains the contrary is the case. The Roman Catholic missions estab-
lished in Harrar and its vicinity have hitherto made but few converts, whereas the
preachers of Islam have already penetrated a long way into the southern regions,
far beyond the Webi, and here nearly the whole of the Or6mo populations have
accepted the teachings of the Koran.

Under the influence of the new religion the national usages have been modi-
fied. The young Galla Mohammedans no longer decorate their face, arms, and
body with elaborate tattooings ; they now shave their heads instead of smearing
their long tresses with clay and butter. Circumcision, which was never customary
amongst the pagan Gallas of these regions, is henceforth xmiversally practised on
the youths between their tenth and fifteenth years. The children also receive
Mussulman names, which disadvantageously replace such pleasant names as " Joy,"
"Hope," "Welcome," and so forth, which were current in pre-Mohammedan
times. These worshippers of Allah no longer eat raw flesh, like their kindred in
the Ethiopian highlands. The marriage rites are performed in the Arab fashion,
and the young men no longer carry off their brides by a sort of make-believe
abduction.

Nevertheless certain customs of the highland Ilm-Ormas still survive amongst
the Moslem lowlanders. Such is the numerical excess of female births, that, not-
withstanding the institution of polygamy, a large number of young women remain
without husbands. In this case Paulitschke tells us that they have the privilege
of choosing temporary husbands till the birth of a child. It is also customary for
families without posterity to adopt a son and heir. When the elders of the
village have given their consent, the child is taken to the forest, where he is sup-
posed by a kind of legal fiction to be found by his new parents ; then a bull is
killed, and his body smeared with the animal's blood and fat, after which ceremony

THE EASTERN GAI.LAS.

403

the change is assumed to be so complete that he becomes absolutely unknown to
his first family.

East Galla Tribal Divisions.

There appear to be no despised classes or pariah castes among the eastern
Gallas as there are amongst their Somali neighbours. Nor do these Gallas them-
selves keep any slaves, although they allow the slave-dealers a free passage
through their territory.

In the Upper Webi basin the most powerful Galla tribes are the Noles, who dwell

Fig. 123.— ViTU Land
Scale 1 : 1.30O.0OO.

Depths.

0toS2

Feet.

32 Feet and
upwards.

18 Miles.

in the upland valleys of the Harrar country, and the Jarsos, or " Ancients," who
are associated in a common political confederacy with their Somali neighbours, the
Barsubs, the Ittus, and the Alas. These latter, according to the Egj'ptian census
returns, would appear to have no less than 2,182 villages. Farther south live the
Enniyas, and beyond them the Jiddas and the Arussi (Orussi), who are not to be
confoimded with the Arussa people who occupy the Upper Juba basin, and who are
said to constitute the " mother " nation of the ea'jtern Gallas. Krapf tells us that
these natives fight naked " in order to terrify the enenij'," or more probably in
accordance with some traditional custom handed down from their forefathers.

The half Mohammedan Panigals revere the shrine of an apostle who brought

404 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

them the Koran and had it translated into their lanpfuago. The Borani, or
Viioranas, who are met as far south as the neighbourhood of ilount Kenia, are also
a powerful Galla nation, who, according to Brenner, number as many as a hundred
and fifty thousand souls. They are daring riders, and have long been at war both
with their Somali and Masai neighbours. The Borani are a very religious people,
who worship a supreme being, to whom they sacrifice black animals, whether oxen
or goats, near black rocks, or else at the foot of some large tree isolated on the
plain. Although they do not practise tattooing, they have the breast covered
with scars, which are produced by striking themselves with some sharp instrument
during the frenzy of the national war dance. They inter their dead seated in an
attitude of meditation, for, say they, " Man dies not, he only dreams."

The Borani are said to be divided into two great branches, the Ya and the
Yul. But our information is still extremely defective regarding most of the
populations occupying the regions which are comprised between the Somali
seaboard and the little-known region of South Ethiopia. Here, however, the
itineraries of explorers such as Thomson, Fischer, Tcleki, Von Hohnel, Astor
Chanler, Macdonald, Wellby, and others, advancing through Masai Land north-
wards, have already been connected at several points with those of Ruspoli,
Bottego, Grixoni, and Donaldson Smith traversing Somaliland either from the east
coast or from the Gulf of Aden. Thus has at last been traversed in several
directions the extensive region which is roughly comprised between the equator
and the tenth degree of north latitude, and extends from the Indian Ocean west-
wards to the Sobat and the "White Nile Valley.

In the Appendix will be found tabulated the names, with approximate popula-
tions, of the chief nations in Somaliland and the territory of the Eastern Gallas.

Topography. — Vitu Territory.

The ubiquitous German traders, who had received a " concession " of the whole
seaboard as far north as the Jebel Karoma, and had become the " protectors "
of its inhabitants, made their first essays at annexation at the southern ex-
tremity of the Somali coast. In this they acted wisely enough, for the district '
chosen by them is one of the most promising in the whole of East Africa. The
valley of the Tana, which reaches the sea at this point, is a natural highway
towards the Upper Nile basin, and thus affords considerable facilities for opening
up the resources of the vast but still almost unknown region which stretches from
the Indian Ocean westwards to the eastern affluents of the White Nile.

In the j'ear 1885 the brothers Dcnhardt, who had already a few years
previously traversed the country in various directions, obtained from Sultan
Akhmed of Vitu, surnamed Simba, or the " Lion," the concession of a territory
about 500 square miles in extent. The whole of this tract, which is limited
towards the south by the course of the river Ozi, they immediately placed under
the suzerainty of the German Empire. In vain the feeble Sultan of Zanzibar
protested against these high-handed proceedings, urging his own undoubted prior

VITU LAND.

405

claims and even threatening hostilities. But the territory of Vitu was surrendered
to England in 1890, when Zanzibar became a British protectorate, Germany
receiving in compensation the island of Heligoland at the mouth of the Elbe.

The population of the Vitu territory and neighbouring archipelago is one of the
most heterogeneous in the whole of East Africa. Galla immigrants, Bantus from
the south, and those Wa-doe people who were till recently regarded as anthropo-
phagists, have flocked in crowds to the district ; while runaway slaves, confident of

Fig. 124. — Double Coastline Nokth op Bueashi.

Poalp t : 650.0rn.

Sands exposed
at low water.

Depths.

0to32

Feet.

3? Feet and
upwards.

12 Miles.

here finding a safe refuge, and even land to cultivate, have been attracted in
thousands from every part of the seaboard. Then, in order to provide the new
arrivals with wives, the " Lion " introduced into his kingdom some Wapokomos,
Wabonis, and other members of various Bantu tribes. Even the Portuguese
element is represented at Vitu by some families of half-castes.

The numerous ruins which may still be seen on the shore near the mouths of
the Tana, attest the commercial importance formerly enjoyed by this district.

406

SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

Within the bar, and on the north or left side of the Ozi branch, stand the two little
towns of Shagga and Kipini, near which are some long-abandoned and sand-
encumbered ancient structures resembling the ruined edifices of Melinda. Accord-
ing to Denhardt these ruins date from the fifteenth, or at latest the sixteenth,
century. The modern town of Kipini, founded so recently as the year 1868, has
been rapidly developed, thanks to the local traffic which it fostered. Within ten
years of its foundation it had already as many as two thousand inhabitants, and it

Fig. 125. — Jebel Eaboma.

'■^■^1

?P^^

acquired such importance that the Sultan of Zanzibar had here established a
political agent, as well as a custom house.

Kau, lying farther up, but on the same left side of the Ozi, is another little
trading place inhabited chiefly by Swaheli traders. These coast people support the
national reputation for hard dealing, and before the advent of the English they
oppressed the Wapokomo peasantry, whom they employed to cultivate the delta.
Vitu, residence of Sultan Akhmed, who had placed himself under German protec-

KISMAYU.— BAEDEEA. 407

tion, lies not on the coast, but on the banks of a little stream which joins the Ozi
over against Kau. Its port on the Indian Ocean is at Lamu, whose harbour is
formed by a long deep channel flowing between the two islands of Lamu and
Manda, and commanded by a large fort, where before 1885 was hoisted the flag of
the Sultan of Zanzibar. Lamu, which some travellers report to have a population
of some fifteen thousand, is now regularly visited by the steamers plying on the
East African seaboard ; but the sandhills are already threatening to swallow up a
part of the town.

Other excellent havens are formed by the creeks which ramify between the
islands of the archipelago. Such are the weU-sheltered ports of Maitda and Patta,
where the ruins still lining the beach date back to times anterior to the arrival of
the Portuguese. But whether they be Arab fortresses, Persian or Hindu struc-
tures, they are all alike equally avoided by Somali, Galla, and Swaheli as the
abodes of evil spirits. Patta especially was at one time a very flourishing place,
with a large trading and industrial population. North of this island and of the
Mto-Bubashi estuary is seen a striking example of the phenomenon of a double
coastline, consisting of an outer barrier reef and the inner continental shore. In
these waters every creek and channel gives access to a fine natural haven.

KlSMAYTJ BraVA. MeRKA.

Kismayii, or Kisimayu, is the last anchorage on the Somali coast, going north-
eastwards in the direction of Cape Guardafui, to which the term port can be
applied. But even this place is little used except as a harbour of refuge, so little
developed is the movement of exchanges along this inhospitable seaboard. Xever-
theless, Kismavu is the natural outlet of the vast basin of the Juba, which reaches
the sea about 12 miles to the north-east. In 1869 this town did not yet exist, but
in that year some Somali emigrants from the Upper Juba Valley, and especially
from the neighbourhood of Bardera, or Bed Tir, the chief market of the interior,
established themselves at this favourable point of the coast, and opened direct
commercial relations with Zanzibar. Later some members of the Mijurtin tribe,
the most energetic traders on the whole seaboard, also settled in the same place,
the population of which had already risen to eight thousand six hundred in the
year 1873. At that time the suzerainty of the Sultan of Zanzibar was represented
in Kismayu by some Arab traders and a small Baluchi garrison. In 1870 a
Marseilles commercial house had hoisted the French flag in this port ; but after the
battle of Sedan the Sultan of Zanzibar reasserted his authority over the place,
which since 1890 forms part of British East Africa.

Bardera is inhabited by Mohammedans, who, if not actually Wahabites, are
fully as fanatical as those troublesome sectaries. They neither smoke nor take
snoif, and formerly displayed an almost rabid zeal in their efforts to enforce their
views on the surrounding Somali populations. Hence insurrections, massacres,
migrations of tribes, and disorders of all sorts. In the year 1845 the town of
Bardera was utterly destroyed by the enraged inhabitants of the district, who slew

408

SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

all the men and sold the women and children into bondage. A few fugitives,
however, contrived to break through the fiery circle closing round the doomed city,
and going northwards to the Ganan^ country, founded a town on the left bank of

Fig. 126.— KiSMATU.

Scale 1 : 220.000.

■^&'so-

East or Greenwich

4 2-40

Depths.

•AS^■\■l

Snnds and reefa
exposed at low water.

0tol6
Feet.

16 tn :i2
Feet.

32 to 80

Feet.

80 Feet and
apwarda.

) Miles.

the TTebi, which has flourished, and is now a great centre of trade. Bardera also
again rose from its ashes, and with it was revived the old spirit of religious intoler-
ance. Here were massacred in 1865 the two travellers Link and Von der Decken.
The vessel with which the unfortimate explorers had navigated the river, and

MAGDOSHU. 409

which the natives had succeeded in recovering from the rapids, was till recentlv
used by them as a ferry-boat between the two banks of the Juba.

East of the lower course of the Webi, where it runs for some miles parallel
with the sea, the coastline describes a slightly concave curve, to which the Arabs
have given the name of El-Banader, that is, " the ports." Yet the villages along
this section of the seaboard offer nothing but exposed and often dangerous road-
steads. From this designation of the coast the Bimal, Tuni, Abgal, Wadan, and
other neighbouring populations, are often collectively called Banaders, or Benadirs.
Brava, or Baremi, the first of the roadsteads, where the little Arab dhows find
some shelter behind a chain of reefs, has at least the advantage of an abundant
supply of good water. Vessels skirting the coast in the direction of Cape
Guardafui, here take in their last provision of fresh water. Brava may be
regarded as the outport of the Lower Webi, for this river, before running out in
the surrounding swamps and sands, passes within 7 or 8 mUes of this place. In
the intervening space is developed a chain of hills 400 to 500 feet high, which
assume the outlines of the towers and ramparts of a fortified city. Some Arab
and Swaheli families are settled at Brava in the midst of the surrounding Somali
populations. Although Mohammedans, these populations, which are mixed with
Galla elements, are extremely tolerant. Their women, who are allowed to go
unveiled, arrange their hair in the form of a crest reaching from the brow to the
nape of the neck.

Merka, which stands on a rocky headland, has the best claim of all these
villages to the title of bandar, or " port." Here a creek well sheltered from the
north-east trade winds affords some accommodation to the Arab dhows which
obtain cargoes of hides, ivory, and gum-copal from the surrounding districts. A
slightly leaning ruined tower still recalls the Portuguese occupation of Merka in
the sixteenth century.

Magdoshu. — Opia. — Italian Somalilaxd.

Farther north follow a few towns now in ruins, beyond which is seen rising
above the beach the massive square tower which commands the terraced houses of
Magdoshu* a place which, with Kismayu, Brava, and Merka, was ceded in 1892 to
Italy by the Sultan of Zanzibar. Within the jurisdiction of the governors of all
these towns was formerly included a little enclave or separate territory 10 or 12
miles in circumference.

Magdoshu is the famous city which Ibn Batuta describes as " immense," and
whose name, gradually expanding with its renown, was at last extended to the
great island of Madagascar. In his account of the wonders of the world, Marco
Polo had described as an island the coast of " Zanquebar " ; he did the same with
that of Magdoshu, or " Madeigascar," which accordingly figures as an island on
Martin Beham's old Atlas. As pointed out by M. Grandidier, this was the land

* Other forms of the word are Mogduihti, Makdishu, Maditha, Mogaduho, that is, the Magadoxo of the
Portuguese maps.

410

SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

which, after doubling the Cape, the Portuguese fancied they had discovered in the
great island inhabited by the Malgashes, or Malagasy people. But in our days
Magdoshu has fallen greatly from its high estate. Vast spaces are strewn with
ruins invaded by the sands, and here and there eaten away by the waves, although
a few mosques standing amid groups of hovels still recall the architectural glories
of the ancient city. One of these edifices bears the date 636 after the Ilegira,
corresponding to the year 1238 of the Christian era.

Magdoshu comprises two distinct quarters, Hamarhivin and Shingani, the former
of which has been almost abandoned and is now gradually becoming a heap of
ruins. In Shingani are at present concentrated most of the inhabitants, numbering

Fig. 127.— Maodoshu.
Scale 1 : 45,000.

45" as EasbofGrcei

<15'96

0tol4
reet.

Depths.

14 to 32

Feet.

32 Feet and
upwards.

1,100 Yards.

about six thousand altogether, and between the two quarters stands the governor's
palace. Amongst the inhabitants of Magdoshu are a few Arab families, including
some Shurfas, or " descendants of the prophet," besides several Hindu traders and
one or two thousand Somali. But fully two-thirds of the population consist of the
so-called Abesh, that is to say, the descendants of emancipated slaves, on whom
still falls nearly all the hard work.

The principal local industry is the manufacture of cotton fabrics. Before the
invasion of the African markets by the products of the European and American
looms, the textiles of ilagdoshu were forwarded far and wide throughout the interior
of the continent, as well as to Arabia and even as far as the Persian coasts.

OPIA.— BEEGHEL. 411

The number of buyers of these goods is now greatly reduced.

Magdoshu is separated by a distance of scarcely 24 miles from its fluvial port,
Gelidi, a town composed of latticed cone-shaped huts, where the explorer, Kinzel-
bach, was poisoned in the year 1869. The mediaeval Arab writers speak of the
watercourse flowing to the west of Magdoshu as of another Nile, comparable to
that of Egypt itseK. Yet this river at present is scarcely more than a hundred
feet broad at Gelidi, where the natives cross it in little ferry-boats held together
by cordage made of creeping plants.

The Jast point on tbe Somali coast, tlie possession of which was formerly
claimed by the Sultan of Zanzibar, is the \illage of Warsfiek (Warris/iir), whose
harbour is inaccessible during the prevalence of high winds. Beyond this place
stretches the domain of the Somali coast tribes, who were till recently independent,
but over whom Italy now claims dominion in virtue of a treaty concluded in 1889
with the Sultan of Ojjia \Ohbia). This was the first step taken by the Italians to
obtain a footing in Somaliland, and it was followed in the same year by the
extension of their protectorate to the territory of the Sultan of the Mijertin nation
as far as 8° N. lat. In 1892 the section of the coast from Opia south to the Juba
was ceded to the same power by the Sultan of Zanzibar, and in 1894 the boundary
between the Italian sphere and British East Africa was made to coincide with the
Juba from its mouth to 6° N. lat. From that point it followed the same parallel as
far as 35° E. long., whence it ran north to the Blue Nile. But by the treaty of
Adis Adeba, ratified in October, 1896, that is a few months after the crushing
defeat of the Italians at Adowa, their territory in Somaliland was restricted to a
strip on the seaboard 180 miles broad, drawn from, Lugh (Logh) under 4° N. lat.
on the Juba northwards to Bandar-Ziadch on the Gulf of Aden, where it is
conterminous with British Somaliland. This territory has thus a total area of
about 100,000 square miles, with a population estimated in 1899 at 400,000.

North of Opia, present seat of the Italian administration, follows the domain of
the Mijertins, the most powerful branch of all the Hashiya nation, inhabiting the
whole of the northern section of the coast as far as the shores of the Gulf of Aden.
The point of the seaboard where they are concentrated in the largest nvmibers is in
the neighbourhood of the Ras-el-Kliail, or "Horse Cape," near an inlet where the
waters of the Wady Nogal are discharged during the rainy season. According to
Graves, as many as twelve thousand SomaH are occasionally attracted to the fair or
market of Ras-el-Khail. The half-Arab, half- Portuguese name of Bender d'Agoa
("water haven") indicates the point where the small coasting craft finds most
convenient anchorage.

At the time of M. R^voil's visit in 1881, the sultan of the Mijertin nation had
his residence at Berghel, a hamlet of some forty inhabitants, which is sheltered on
the north by the sandy slopes and lofty spurs of the Jebel Karoma, terminating
eastwards in Cape Guardafui. In the neighbourhood of this modest little capital
of the Mijertins are seen some ancient sepulchral mounds and the remains of a
fortified camp.

The section of the Somali seaboard which skirts the south side of the Gulf of

412 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

Aden is carved into a large number of little secondary gulfs or inlets, to which are
applied the terms Bari or Mahhar in the eastern parts, Dalbed or Dabir in the
west. Several trading-places follow along this north coast of Somali Land which
lies over against Arabia. Here commercial intercourse is much more easily
maintained than along the exposed seaboard facing towards the Indian Ocean.
The proximity of the grass)' slopes, with their herds of cattle and clumps of trees,
also supplies more produce to the surrounding population.

At the northernmost extremity of the coast, two tongues of sand projecting
seawards enclose the bender or port of Alliila {Haluleh, Luleh), where the
Egyptian flag was flown for a few years, previous to the revolt in Soudan. Far-
ther on — that is, towards the south-west — stands the headland of Ras Filuk, that
is " Elephant Cape," whose speckled rock seen from the west presents the rough
outline of the huge pachyderm. South of the cape the sandy beach is interrupted
by an inlet similar to that of AUula, forming the little haven of Bender Filuk
{Fclck), which is followed by the Bender Merayn, still within the domain of the
Mijertin nation, and frequently chosen as a residence by their sultans. From this
place is exported a large quantity of myrrh and frankincense, collected by the
women in the surrounding districts. About the first days of March, incisions are
made in all the trees, and three months afterwards the gums and resins are in a
fit state to be gathered.

Bender Khor, or Bottiala, differs from the neighbouring ports by its position on
an estuary. Here the tide ascends for a distance of about six miles into the
interior, through a gorge in the mountains traversed by the Tokuina torrents.
Through this inlet the Arab dhows gain access to the little town of Bottiila,
whose houses stand at the base of earthen towers, built in the form of truncated
P3'ramids. On a recently upheaved beach to the north-east of Bottiala is pictu-
resquely situated the new town of Gandala, which is also protected by similar towers.

Farther on stands Bossassa, or Bender Ghazem, defended by four forts, and
forming the most important trading station on the whole of the Mijertin coast.

British Somaliland.

By the Anglo-Italian agreement of 1894 Bandar-Ziadeh, a little west of
Bossassa, marks the boundary between the Italian sphere and British Somaliland,
which comprises the rest of the seaboard terminating by the Anglo-French agree-
ment of 1888 at the Jibuti headland on the south side of Tajurah Gulf. When
first occupied, in 1884, this territory extended for an unknown distance inland,
but by arrangement with Italy the southern boundary was made to coincide with
8" N. lat., between 44° and 48° E. long., the total area being thtis about 76,000
square miles. Then followed the treaty of Adis Adeba, negotiated by Mr. Rennell
Rodd, and ratified on July 28th, 1897, in virtue of which Great Britain ceded to
Abyssinia a district some 8,000 square miles in extent, so that at present British
Somaliland is reduced to an area of 68,000 square miles, with a population (1899)
of perhaps 500,000.

On the north coast the first noteworthy place coming westwards is the little haven

Jkn^^^^

STREET IN BERBERA.

MAYET.— BEEBEEA.

413

oi Mayet {Mehet, Meyt), where died the great Sheikh Ishak, ancestor of all the Hahr
or "Grandmother" tribes, which belong to the widespread Hashiya division of the
Somali race. Formerly the SomaH advanced in years came from all the surrounding
regions and settled near the venerated shrine, in order after death to secure a last
resting-place near the remains of the founder of their nation. All the houses and
cabins of Mayet were at one time grouped round about the tomb of the saint ; but
they have since been displaced in the direction of the west, near the mouth of a little
coast-etream. Towards the north-east is visible the volcanic islet of Jebel-Tiur, or
" Bird Mountain," which contains a deposit of guano, and to which the EngHsh

Fig. 128.— Beebeea.

Pcale 1 : 40.00".

Las t oFCreen tfvic^i

Depths.

Sand and reefs
exposed at low water.

Oto 16
Feet.

16 to 32

Feet.

32 to 80

Feet.

. 1.100 Yards.

80 Feet and
upwards.

have given the name of Burnt Island, from the colour of its lavas. The island is
annually visited by about forty Arab dhows, from the port of Makalla in Hadra-
maut, returning laden with cargoes of this manure for their tobacco plantations.

West of Mayet follow the seaports of Heis, Ankor, Kerem, all of which belong
to the Habr Tol nation. Then, after rounding a headland, the seafarer comes in
full view of a deep inlet in the coast forming the important harbour of Berbcra. This
18 the only thoroughly sheltered haven on the whole seaboard, and has consequently
been a busy seaport from the remotest antiquit}-. The town still keeps the old
name of Barbaria formerly applied by the Greek: , not to any particular point, but

414 SOUTH AND EAST AFBICA. •

to all the coastlands skirting the south side of the Gulf of Aden. Yet notwith-
standing its obNaous maritime advantages, this privileged seaport has at times been
completely abandoned. Thus a war which broke out in the year 1870 between the
surrounding Gadibursi and Dolbohant nations compelled all the inhabitants of
Barbara temporarily to quit their homes. But under the protection of Great
Britain, which has inherited all the rights of Egj'pt as the ruling power on this
seaboard, Berbera has again become the centre of considerable commercial activity.
It has now a lighthouse, piers, warehouses, and even an aqueduct, whose copious
water, thermal at the fountain-head, is brought from a distance of about seven
miles. Berbera is the successor of Bender Abbas, another town some ruins of which
are still visible on the lowlying shores of the Tamar peninsula enclosing the road-
stead on the north and north-west. Lj'ing IGO miles to the south of Aden, and
nearly under the same meridian, Berbera shares with that town and with Zaila,
another port belonging to England, the whole of the commercial movement in the
western parts of the Gulf of Aden. In 1899 it had a population of about 30,000.

On the beach at Bulliar, about 45 miles farther west, lies the market-place
where the Berbera traders meet the caravans coming from Harrar and from all the
Somali and Galla Lands to the south and west of that place. During the busy
season, from October to Januarj*, as many as 15,000 persons are attracted to this
place. Then, after all the commodities have changed hands, the tents are struck,
the long strings of camels laden with their purchases move off in all directions
towards the interior, the Arab dhows set sail, and solitude once more prevails along
the seaboard. The Somali prefer the Bulbar market to that of Berbera itself,
because they find in the neighbourhood convenient pasturages for their numerous
herds and flocks, whereas round about Berbera nothing is offered except here and
there a few trailing plants and shrubs. Bulbar has unfortunately no harbour, and
its surf-beaten shores are too often strewn with wreckage. The explorers who have
ventured to penetrate from this point into the inland plateaux report the existence
of numerous burial-places.

The most frequented trade route miming south-westwards in the direction of
the city of Harrar has its seaward terminus at Bulbar. But Samaicanak and
Dungareta have been spoken of as more convenient starting-points for the future
railway, which has already been projected, and which must sooner or later run
through the Gadibursi territory towards the great city of the Upper Webi basin,
easternmost station and bulwark of the kingdom of Shoa. Accordingly England
and France have recently put forward rival claims for the possession of this future
gateway to the interior of the continent from this direction. The English mean-
time retain in their hands the disputed station, recognising in return the absolute
sovereignty of France over the Gulf of Tajurah, which also gives access to the
inland regions from the head of the Gulf of Aden.

British Somaliland, which is administered by a Political Agent and Consul
subordinate to Aden, is in the nature of a protectorate, which recognises the here-
ditary rights of the local chiefs or " sultans," and extends the utmost tolerance to
all national usages consistent with orderly government. The surrounding tribes

' QENEEAL EEFLECTIONS. 415

have begim to appreciate the respect thus shown for their religious and social
traditions, and to value the security extended to life and property. They now live
on the most friendly terms with the English officials, whose word can always be
trusted, whose decisions in tribal disputes are recognised as just, and whose
firmness is tempered with sympathy and kindness. Under this wise system even
the most lawless groups are adapting themselves to civilised ways, while the
resources of the country are being rapidly developed. In 1898 the revenue
already exceeded the expenditure by £8,000 ; the exports advanced from £400,000
in 1886 to nearly £1,000,000 in 1898, and in the same year the imports (chiefly
cotton fabrics, rice, and dates) were valued at about £600,000. The exports,
partly produced in the district, partly brought down from Harrar and Gallaland
by caravans of pack animals (camels and asses), consist mainly of cattle, sheep,
goats, hides, skins, ostrich feathers, gold, ivory, gum, civet, and drugs.

But this transit trade is capable of a vast development, because the South
Galla uplands, as well as that section of Somaliland which has been ceded by
England to Abyssinia, are regions of great natural wealth, and also enjov a salu-
brious climate suitable for European settlement. " The climate," writes Dr.
Donaldson Smith, " is such that a European farmer can work here without being
oppressed by heat. Maize and cereals of all kinds, vegetables and fruits, can be
planted with good and quick results in almost any season. No better sanatorium
for consumptives could be found. The finest cattle, sheep, and goats I saw in
Africa were raised on the plateau lands lying between the Webi ShebeK on the east
and the river Nianam on the west, and between latitudes 5^ and 7° north. The
number of elephants in this country is legion, and as the supply of tusks from
Central Africa diminishes it will be from here that the world's supply of ivory will
come. There will be an ever-increasing demand for cloth and articles of European
manufacture, and a very lucrative trade will be established as the facilities for
transportation increase." *

• Through Vnknown African Countries, pp. 372-3.

CHAPTER XIII.

EAST APRICAN ISLANDS.

I. — SoKOTRA.

F aU the insular regions in the Pacific Ocean, Sokotra, or Socotora,
may with the greatest confidence be regarded as a simple geo-
graphical dependence of the African mainland. Although sepa-
rated from Cape Guardafui by a channel 150 miles broad, with
intervening spaces fully 3,000 feet deep, the disposition of the
island, with its main axis disposed in a line with the extreme point of Somaliland,
together with a continuous row of reefs and islets stretching right across the
channel, clearly shows that Sokotra is nothing more than a detached fragment of
Africa.

But in its commercial and political relations this island has always formed part
of Asia, and depends at present on the town of Aden, one of the British strongholds
on the Asiatic mainland. From 1835 to 1839 it was even occupied by an English
garrison, but afterwards abandoned for Aden, a position of far greater strategic
importance. In 1845 Sokotra was declared a Crown colony, but became a simple
protectorate by treaty with the local Sultan in 1876. Thus was at last set aside
the suzerain authority claimed for the last five centuries by the sultans of Keshin,
whose territory lies north-west of the island at the nearest point of the Arabian
coast.

The very name of Sokotra attests the great antiquity of the memories and
legends associated with the island. In the geography of the Hindus it was regarded
as one of the petals of the great lotus-flower floating on the waters. It was the
Bvipa Sukhatara, ihe Biu-Skadra — that is, one of those " Fortunate Islands " which
at all times people j'eaming for a happier fate have supposed must exist beyond
the gUded clouds of the setting sun. The Greeks identified it as the Dioscoridi
Insula, or " Land of the Dioscuri," while the old Hindu name has been more
correctly preserved by the Arabs in its present form.

SOKOTEA.

4i:

Inhabitants.

The island was visited by Greek traders, and tradition even speaks of a colony
said to have been sent hither by Alexander the Great. During the first centuries of
the present era the inhabitants of the island were converted to Christianity, a reli-
gion which at that time was professed by a great part of the people of Yemen.
Towards the close of the thirteenth century, Marco Polo states that " all were bap-
tised," and recognised the authority of an archbishop. They still called themselves
Christians at the time of the arrival of the Portuguese, who made their appearance
in 1503, and afterwards settled in the island in order to guard the approaches of
the Red Sea and capture the Arab dhows frequenting those waters. According to

Fig. 129.— SOKOTEA.
Scale 1 : 600,0<>i.

Depths.

0 to 320
Feet.

320 Feet and
upwards.

30 Miles.

the local tradition, the Sokotrans had been converted by St. Thomas, Apostle of
India ; but they no longer understood the language of their ritual, although they
still venerated the cross, placing it on their altars and wearing it as a pendant to
their necklaces. Their rite resembled that of the Abyssinian Jacobites, and like
them they also practised circumcision.

They were visited in 1542 by Francis Xavier, who baptised several of the
natives. In the middle of the seventeenth century, the Carmelite friar, Yincenzo,
was still able to detect some traces of Christianity amongst the people. They
knelt before the cross, carried it in their processions, and gave their girls the
name of " Maria." But they also sacrificed to the moon, and observed no " sacra-
ment " except circumcision, which, however, is not even yet universally practised.
At present Kollesea, or Gollonsir, the name of a village on the north-west coast,
may possibly still recall the existence of an ancient church (ecclesia.) in this part of

AFRICA IV.

c e

418 SOUTH ^VND EAST ^VFRICA.

the island. If so, this name and the cross seen on the graves are all the vestiges
that now remain of the Christian faith.

Nearly all the population, although really of very mixed origin, call them-
selves Arabs, and profess the Mohammedan religion, but without fanaticism,
although the "Wahabites occupied the island in 1800, and for some years subjected
it to their intolerant rule. Schweinfiirth thinks that the heaps of stones met in
some districts are ruined altars ; but lie has discovered no other old monument except
a few undecipherable Greek letters inscribed on a rock.

The so-called " Bedouins " of the interior, who are distinguished by their tall
stature, developed muscular system, and robust health, are evidently a different race
from the people of the coast, who appear to be mostly Arabs, either of pure descent
or else crossed with Negroes. These Bedouins are supposed to represent the in-
digenous element. Their language, which is d}'ing out, is sufficiently distinct
from Arabic to be absolutely imintclligible to any inhabitants of the Arabian
peninsula, except those of the nearest coastland. The Sayeni or Kishin hillmen,
near the capital, Tamarida, claim kinship with the Portuguese ; while the Moni^
of the eastern district would appear to be partly of Abyssinian descent. Others
again resemble the Jews, and in fact are said to be of Hebrew origin.

Physical Features.

Sokotra, which has an estimated area of 1,000 miles, with a population of twelve
thousand, has the form of an elongated triangle with its apex facing eastwards.
The sides of the triangle, however, are not rectilinear, but towards the centre are
deflected southwards, so that the south side has a convex, the north a slightly
concave, curvature. Near the middle of the north coast rises the granitic mass of
the Haggiar, or more correctly, Hajar, that is to say, " Rock," whose jagged
crests attain an elevation of 4,700 feet. The other hills, which are much lower,
consist of limestone rocks, pierced by numerous caves occupied by large colonies
of birds, and here and there converted into human dwellings.

The island appears to be geologically of very old formation, and botanists
speak of it as a last retreat in which many primitive forms have take refuge. Of the
828 kno-mi species, including as many as 575 flowering plants, about one-fourth
occur nowhere else.* Some districts, especially along the south coast, are covered
with dunes disposed in parallel ridges. Elsewhere the island is very stony and
consequently far from fertile. Nevertheless in many places the surface is clothed
with shrubs which assume a verdant mantle during the north-east monsoon. In
the western district a few valleys opening towards the north coast are even
shaded by large trees, and some of the more sylvan tracts are compared by Well-
sted to the parklands of England. " In its splendid vegetation," says Schwein-
furth, " Sokotra presents a marked contrast to the neighbouring shores of Asia and
Africa. "

* Bayley Balfour, Botany of SoUbtra.

SOKOTEA. 419

Cli>L4TE. — Products.

Thanks to the monsoons, and to the alternating breezes along the coasts, the
climate of Sokotra is less sultry than that of the adjacent Arabian peninsula.
But this alternating movement of the monsoons is less favourable for navigation
with the Eed Sea than was recently supposed; and although Marco Polo spoke long
ago of its extensive commerce, Sokotra has in modem times been unable to acquire
any great importance as an advanced station for Aden on the route to India. In
these waters the alternating atmospheric currents set on the one hand between the
Somali and Arabian coasts, on the other between the Grulf of Aden and the high
seas. During the first half of the year the wind blows chiefly to the south-west, in
the direction of Africa ; during the remaining six months it veers round towards
the Arabian peninsula, and to the north-east towards the Persian Gulf. The
opposing currents thus prevail regularly first on one then on the other of the oppo-
site seaboards. Hence Sokotra would be well situated as a convenient station at the
narrowest part of the channel between the two continents, at least if it possessed
any sufficiently sheltered haven. But between such almost desert and lifeless
shores the traffic is necessarily insignificant. Sokotra is ■visited on each voyage by
scarcely a dozen Arab vessels, plying with the monsoons between Mascat and
Zanzibar.

At present, the natives of the island require to import little from abroad
beyond some dokhn {penicilaria ti/pho'ides), when the date crop has been deficient,
and their cattle, sheep, and camels have failed to yield a sufficient supply of milk
for the local consumption. In return they export nothing but a little (//li, or
clarified butter, and dragon's blood, the product of a peculiar species of plant,
besides 3,000 or 4,000 poimds of aloes (aloes spicafa), of the best quality known
to the European pharmacopoeia. The Socotran aloe gi'ows on the slopes of the hills
befrn-een the altitude of 500 and 3,000 feet.

The inhabitants are almost exclusively a pastoral people, possessing nimierous
cattle, sheep, goats, sure-footed asses, and camels accustomed to traverse rugged
and stony ground. The horses alluded to by old writers appear to be extinct, nor
are there any cassowaries, notwithstanding the statement of delisted to the
contrary. The local faiina is, in fact, very poor, comprising no species of
rapacious beasts, though reptiles, including some venomous snakes, are common
enough. The birds belong exclusively to African species, whereas the moUuscs
for the most part represent Arabian types.

TOPOGR.U'HT.

Tamarida, towards the middle of the north coast, is the chief ^-illage in the
island. Kolessea, at the north-west extremity, formerly did a little foreign trade,
but is at present a mere convict station. On the south side there at one time
stood a large Portuguese stronghold, the ruins of which have been ^•isited and
described by H\mter.

Till recently the inhabitants of Sokotra were free, independent alike of th3

420 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

Sultau of Keshin and of England, and obej'iug no law except that of custom and
traditional usages. But the sultanate of Keshin was lately divided between
two brothers, one of whom reigns on the Arabian coast, while the other resides at
Tamarida or in the neighbouring district, where he holds court and administers
justice over the whole island. Such, however, is the peaceful and even gentle
disposition of the natives, that he is rarel)' called upon to exercise his judicial
functions. Among them acts of violence or robbery are almost unknown, and
they keep very few slaves, although numerous runaway Negroes are settled on the
coastlands.

The small islands following to the west of Sokotra in the direction of Cape
Guardafui, also belong to the sultanate of Keshin. But of these none arc inhabited
except Bander-Saleh {Samneh), and Abd-el-Kuri, where a few wild goats browse on
the scanty vegetation of the rockj- soil. The natives, who are very poor, live
mainlj- on the produce of their fisheries. A few miles farther north stand some
steep islets covered with guano, which attract the rare visits of the local Arab
dhows.

II. M.\DAGASCAR.

This great island of the Indian Ocean is one of the largest on the globe,
yielding in extent oulj- to Greenland, New Guinea, Borneo, and probably also the
insular mass in the Antarctic waters. Lying at a relatively short distance from
the south-east coast of Africa, not more than 230 miles at the narrowest part of
the intervening channel, Madagascar stretches in a straight line from the northern
headland of Cape Amber, for about 1,000 miles to its southern extremity at Cape
St. Mary. The mean breadth east and west, as indicated by a line drawn from
Andovoranto on the east side through Tananarive to the Va-Zimba coast, is about
300 miles ; while the shore-line, excluding minor indentations and inlets such as
the Diego-Suarez Bay, has a total development of over 3,000 miles, giving a super-
ficial area of 228,500 square miles, or one-ninth more than that of France.

Its general configuration is somewhat regular, in its outlines greatly resem-
bling Sumatra, the first large island met by the seafarer on the opposite side of
the Indian Ocean. It presents the form of an elongated oval, disposed in a
parallel line with the axis of the adjacent African seaboard. But the side facing
seawards is nearly rectilineal for about half of its length, this formation being due
to the equalising action of the waves, which have raised a false coastline of sands
and mud across the bays and inlets indenting the primitive seaboard. The west
side, facing the mainland, is of far more irregiilar outline, being much diversified
by projecting headlands and numerous little gulfs and havens.

The present name of Madagascar seems to be due to a mistaken application or
extension of the term originally attributed by Marco Polo to the city of Magdoshu
(Magadoxo), on the Somali coast.* Nevertheless, by a curious coincidence, this
appellation bears a tolerably close resemblance to that of Malagasy, the collective

• Col. H. Yule, The Book of Ser Uarco Polo.

MADAGASCAK. 421

name of the inhabitants ; while its former Hova rulers have, under foreign influ-
ence, adopted Madagascar as its official designation. Thus this region has for them
ceased to be the " Whole," as in the days before they were brought into contact
with the outer world. Still older native terms, such as Nom-Dambe, or " Wild
Boar Island," have also fallen into disuse, although the inhabitants of the surround-
ing islands still speak of Madagascar as the Tani-Be, or " Great land."

Although lying nearly altogether within the intertropical zone (12° — 25^ 30'
south latitude), Madagascar belongs nevertheless to the temperate zone, thanks to
the elevation of the plateaux which occupy the greater part of the island. On
these plateaux are some extensive fertile and salubrious tracts, to which foreign
settlers are attracted across the intervening zone of malarious coastlands. In
some of the upland districts the population is tolerably dense, but the average
for the whole island scarcely exceeds twenty per square mile, if, as seems probable,
M. Marinelli's estimate of five millions for the population in 1898 approaches
nearest to the truth.

Historic Retrospect.

This population is, moreover, greatly divided both by descent and by hereditary
animosities, so that the Europeans, although represented by a very small number of
persons, had easily succeeded in getting a footing in the country by setting one
section of the people agaiast the other. Even the disasters which at various times
overtook the intruders were often caused less by the hostility of the natives than
by epidemics, the want of resources, and especially the dissensions prevailing
amongst the colonists themselves. But after long intervals of inaction, European
influences, represented by the zeal and enterprise of British missionaries and
traders, as well as by the military intervention of the French, again succeeded in
making themselves felt, and even in acquiring a decided predominance early in the
nineteenth century. No doubt, political unity had been established, at least
officially, to the advantage of the Hovas, the most powerful section of the native
population. But, on the other hand, the Hovas themselves were first compelled, in
their foreign relations, to consent to be represented by France, thus accepting the
position of a protected state ; and, as seen below, this was followed by their com-
plete subjection to that Power.

The references made by the ancient writers to the islands of the Erythrean Sea
(Indian Ocean) are of too vague a character to decide the question whether the
land now bearing the name of Madagascar was ever known to the Greeks and
Eomans. No certain mention of it occurs in the history of navigation before the
period of the great discoveries of the Arabs. In the twelfth century it is alluded
to by Masudi under the designation of " Jafuna Land," and it was subsequently
known by several other names.

It first became known to European mariners five centuries later, that is to say,
two years after the voyage of Vasco de Gama, who himself passed in the neighbour-

422 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

hood of the great island. After this first visit by Diego l)ias in 1550, the
island of Sao-Lourenco, as it was originally called by the Portuguese, received
several other visits from explorers of the same nation, such as Fernao Suares,
Ruy Pereira, and Tristao da Cunha, " whose name," says Camoens, " will live
eternally in all that part of the ocean which washes the southern islands."

But finding neither gold nor silver in the new land, its discoverers soon
abandoned it, attracted towards India, the land of pearls, of diamonds, and costly
stuffs. Not being numerous enough to hold possession of half the globe, the
Portuguese were fain to relinquish the greater part of their conquests in order to
concentrate their strength on those regions whence they derived most wealth.
Had their Mozambique settlements become the centre of a considerable colony, no
doubt the neighbouring island of Sao-Louren90 would have been brought within
the sphere of Portuguese enterprise, if not actually annexed to the empire. The
first map on which the outHnes of Madagascar are figured with some approach to
accuracy is that of Pilestrina, which bears the date of 1511.

Early French Settlements.

After the discovery nearly a hundred and fifty years elapsed before any
serious attempt was made by Europeans to obtain a footing in the island.
Flacourt relates that in 1635 some Dutchmen landed on the shores of Anton-Gil
Bay. Then in 1642 a French society, bearing the name of " I'Orient," received
from Richelieu the concession of Madagascar and the neighbouring islands, " in
order to found settlements and trade." The following year a few settlers landed
on the island, thus giving a first sanction to the " historic rights " over Madagascar
claimed bj- the French Government in its subsequent discussions and negotiations
with England.

One of the points at that time occupied was Anton-Gil (Antongil) Bay, a
spacious harbour on the east coast. But the most important attempts at colonisa-
tion in the strict sense of the term were first made on the south side, that is, the
side Ipng nearest to Europe, by the Cape of Good Hope, the only route yet known
to navigators. The French at first selected the bay of Manafiafa, or Saint Lucia,
situated at the south-east angle of Madagascar; but they afterwards removed
farther south to the peninsula of Taolanora, where they erected the stronghold of
Fort Dauphin. The whole island even received the name of Dauphin, or East
France.

By means of nimierous foraging expeditions and occasional help from Europe,
the French maintained their ground for some time at this point. Their forces
would undoubtedly have sufficed to extend their power over all the southern jjart
of the island, had the colonists not taken advantage of their ascendancy over the
natives in order to convert them to Christianity, and afterwards incite them to
war against each other. Slave-hunting expeditions were even organised against
some of the surrounding tribes, and the unfortunate captives sold to the Dutch
planters of Mauritius, Thus all the territory round about Fort Dauphin was at

MADAGASCAE.

423

tl:"

last completely wasted. Hundreds of villages had been delivered to the flames,
and the inhabitants who had escaped from the butcheries had been driven to seek

refuge in other parts of the

. , , „, -r, 1 • Fiff. 130.— Sooth-East Cobnbe of Madaoascae.

island. The French gam- ^ Scale i : 60o,ooo

son, surrounded by solitudes,
had no longer even the re-
source of plunder, and had to
draw their supplies of cattle
and rice from great distances
and at a heavy cost.

The settlement conse-
quently began to dwindle, till
the year 1672, when the few
survivors were brought away
by a passing vessel. Nothing
beyond a few half-castes re-
mained in the country to
keep alive the memory of the
French occupation of Fort
Dauphin. It was estimated
that two-thirds of the troops
and settlers were carried off
by epidemics, war, and famine.
The survivors served as a
nucleus for the colony of
Bourbon, which was destined
two centuries later to become
the base of operations in a
fresh attempt at the conquest
of Madagascar. One of the
first governors of Bourbon was
the historian De Flacourt,
whose work * is the most
frequently consulted on the
island and its inhabitants during the seventeenth century.

a?-?!

DepthB.

16 to 32
Feet.

32 to 160

Feet.

160 Feet and
upwards.

1> MUes.

English and French Rivalries.

After the abandonment of Madagascar, frequent royal edicts recalled the fact
that the " Crown " still maintained its prior rights of possession, although for fully a
century these purely formal assumptions were justified by no actual attempts at
colonisation. During that period the only foreign visitors were corsairs or traders
from the Mascarenhas Islands, who came to exchange woven goods and other

JSistoire de la grande lie de Madagascar.

424 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

European wares for slaves. In 1750 the French East India Company endeavoured
to obtain a monopoly of this commerce by occupying the island of Saint Mary,
lying to the south of Anton-Gil Bay, and a few years later the French Govern-
ment resumed possession of Fort Dauphin, without, however, securing any perma-
nent results. The ambitious viceregal establishment set up in 1774 on Anton-Gil
Bay by the pompous Polish and Magyar magnate, Maurice Beniovski, had also to
be abandoned two years afterwards ; and all vestiges have now disappeared of the
capital, Louisbourg, although some traces have been detected of the route con-
structed north-east of Anton-Gil Bay towards Ngutsi by this adventurer, the
ampakassombe, or " emperor " of the Malagasy, as he called himself. After three
centuries of trade and partial occupation nothing was known of the great island
beyond the coastlands.

The first impulse to political and commercial expeditions on the inland
plateaux was given by the rivalries of France and England. During the wars of
the Empire, the English had seized the Isle of France (Mauritius), with the
purpose of converting it into a naval station for the conquest of Madagascar. But
after discussing the terms of the various treaties, they were compelled to relin-
quish the theory which regarded the great island as a political dependency of
Mauritius. They consequently allowed the French again to occupy the stations
on the coast, and restricted their action to the development of an alliance with
some powerful native prince, in order thus indirectly to secure the expulsion of
the representatives of the rival power.

Such an ally they expected to find in the sovereign of the Hovas, who both by
the number of his subjects and his commanding position on the central plateau,
seemed to have the fairest prospect of one day becoming master of the whole
island. Radama, hailed by the English as " King of Madagascar and its depen-
dencies," soon obtained possession of the port of Tamatave on the east coast, and
the road to the interior was thus completely thrown open to the English. In the
year 1820 thej' availed themselves of this circumstance to send to the capital some
traders, missionaries, officers, and diplomatists, for the purpose of securing a
permanent footing in the more frequented seaports, and obtaining the practical
command of the seaboard. Madagascar, the " Great Britain of Africa/' as the
missionary Ellis called it by anticipation, seemed at that time about to become
an English colony, and it was expected that the forces of the Hovas would hence-
forth be at the disposition of the stranger in effecting the reduction of the whole
island.

But these hopes were doomed to disappointment. In 1828 the accession of a
new king brought about a change of policy, followed by the expulsion of the
English, the destruction of their factories, and a general persecution of the Pro-
testant converts. The Malagasy people, comprising aU the vazaha, or whites, in a
common sentiment of hatred, endeavoured for a time to close the country from
them, and to keep a strict watch over the traders settled in the seaports. Never-
theless the eight years, from 1820 to 1828, during which the Europeans had
enjoyed free access to the Hova kingdom, produced the inevitable results on the

M ADAGASCAR

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MADAGASCAR.

425

Fig. 131. — Chief Routes op Exploeees in Madaoascab.
Scale 1 : 12,000.000.

islanders, who were thus brought under foreign influences, and who became to
some extent initiated in the arts and ideas of modern civilisation.

The system of political isolation adopted by the Hovas was enforced with the
greatest rigour during the
period from 1845 to 1852.
After an unsuccessful at-
tempt of the English and
French squadrons to avenge
the wrongs of the plun-
dered traders settled in
Tamatave, the relations
were completely broken off
between the Malagasy and
the Europeans of all nations.
But on the west side the
French had established re-
lations with the indepen-
dent Sakalavas and other
populations, and had also
taken possession of a num-
ber of nosai, or "islands,"
near the coast, such as
Nossi-Be, Nossi-Komba,
and Nossi - Mitsio. They
even claimed to have ac-
quired sovereign rights on
the adjacent mainland, al-
though these pretensions
were always strenuously
resisted by the Hovas, and
even by the local Sakalava
chiefs.

When the Europeans
were again admitted into
the Hova kingdom, they
soon again acquired con-
siderable influence. But
the international rivalries

between the French and English were again revived, while the privilege which
the whites claimed to establish themselves wherever they thought convenient,
and to acquire absolute possession of real property, gave rise to endless discus-
sions and bickerings. These troubles at last brought about the French war of
1883, which ended advantageously for France, without, however, securing for the
subjects of the republic the right to purchase land. They could take it, however,

ISO Miles.

426 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. *

as leaBcholders for an indefinite term, and were also henceforth permitted to reside
and trade freely in every part of the Hova territory.

But the vicinity of two rich and thickly peopled islands such as Mauritius
and Reunion could not fail gradually to draw the inhabitants of Madagascar
within the sphere of European intercourse. Thanks to their rich colonial produce,
the ilascarenhas had necessarily been brought into direct relations with the
western markets ; but they also required to maintain a local traffic with the great
island, on which they depend for the supply of cattle and provisions needed by
the labourers on their plantations. From the economic standpoint, Madagascar
and its two eastern satellites thus form a mutually dependent commercial group.
Hence the commercial, and then the political, annexation of one to the other had
become ine\-i table, and the recent action of France should be judged in the light
of these conditions. The opportunity of carrying out her long-settled purpose of
annexing the island was afforded by the refusal of theHovas to accept the protectorate
which had been recognised by the Anglo-French Agreement of 1890. The expe-
dition despatched to enforce the French claims having occupied the capitaLin 1895,
the protectorate was accepted by the reigning Queen, Ranavalona III. Then the
island and all its deijendencies were constituted a French colony by the law
promulgated in April, 1896. Earlj' the following year the Queen was deposed by
the Resident-General, acting on secret instructions from the home Government,
and in March, 1897, the last of the Hova dynasty was deported, with her family,
to the island of Reunion.

Exploration.

But meantime much of the interior still remains unexplored. More than half of
the Sakalava territory is altogether unknown, while the southern regions, where
the French made their first expeditions, between Fort Dauphin and the Bara country,
have never been scientifically survcj'ed. The best-known districts are naturally
those traversed by traders and military expeditions between the coast and the
capital. The routes of explorers round about this central point also cross each
other in all directions, so that in many places nothing remains to be done except to fill
up the minor details. In the work of general exploration, no traveller has been
more successful than M. Grandidier, who was also the first to accuratelj'' determine
the relief of the land. This naturalist has traversed the island from coast to coast,
roughly surveyed a space some thousand square miles in extent, and fixed several
hundred astronomical points, which, with the surveys executed on the seaboard by
the European maritime states, offer a network of fundamental lines for all future
cartographers. Thanks to the observations taken by Grandidier, supplemented by
those of Mullens, Cameron, and Roblet, it has been found possible to effect a fairly
correct triangulation of the central province, Imerina, of which we already possess
more accurate charts than have yet been designed for certain European districts,
especially iu the Iberian and Balkan peninsulas. The bibliography of the island

PHYSICAL FEATURES OF MADAGASCAE. 427

also comprises an extensive collection of over 1,500 books, pamphlets, maps, and
documents of all sorts.

Physical Features.

Madagascar lacks the regular uniformitj' of structure attributed to it by the
early explorers. The fanciful mountain range boldly traced by them from Amber
Cape in the extreme north to Cape St. Mary in the extreme south, has no existence.
Instead of a main range thus symmetrically disposed, the island presents in its
northern and central parts various irregular moimtain masses resting on a common
pediment of elevated tablelands, and faUing towards the sea in far from uniform
slopes. Were the surrounding waters to encroach on the land in such a way as to
encircle its moimtainous parts, the island, thus reduced in size, would not present its
outlines as they actually exist. The western incline, facing the Mozambique Channel,
slopes far more gently than that of the opposite side, while in several districts
along its base stretch extensive plains but slightly raised above sea-level. Towards
the southern extremity of the island also the groirnd falls to a low level, mountains
and hills completely disappearing, or else replaced along the coastlands by chains of
shifting dunes. But on the east side the slope is in general extremely precipitous,
and is here continued by the submarine cliffs down to def)ths of over 10,000 feet.

According to Mullens,* the first lofty eminence met by the traveller advancing
from the southern lowlands is the natural citadel of Ivohibe, in the Bara country.
Beyond this isolated crag the ground rises to a rugged plateau, flanked by border
ranges or escarpments. Towards the central region, but considerably nearer to
the east than to the west coast, rise the Ankaratra highlands, culminating point
of Madagascar. This group of mountains, whose main axis is disposed in the same
direction as that of the island itseli, has several peaks over 8,000 feet high, the
loftiest being the Tsiafa-Javona, or " Snowy Mountain," which according to Sibree
attains an altitude of close upon 9,000 feet. To the south the other simimits
average only half this height ; but towards the north several crests have been
observed with an altitude of about 5,000 feet. Of all the mountains in Madagascar,
the Ambinivini, standing to the west of Anton-Gil Bay, presents perhaps the most
imposing aspect. Its upper flanks rise like a rocky wall some 2,000 feet sheer
above the road winding through the valley below.

Apart from the great mountain masses, the surface of the land has the appear-
ance of an irregular steppe, stretching away in long billowy undulations of a red
or greyish clay, interrupted here and there by abrupt masses of granite, gneiss,
schists, or basalts cropping out in the form of towers and ramparts, or else piled up
in chaotic heaps. The base of the highlands, some 3,000 feet high, is Hmited east-
wards by escarpments and terraced slopes, which seen from the sea present the
aspect of coast ranges ^-ith their promontories, headlands, and transverse gorges.
These outer steppe-like walls of the plateaux are for the most part covered with
forests.

* Journal of the Royal Geographical Socuty, 1877.

428 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

On the west side the uplands are also skirted by similar terraced formations and
escarpments disposed in the direction from north to south in a line with the main
axis of the island. As manj' as three of these parallel ramparts follow in succession
between the plateaux and the sea, themselves merging in secondary plateaux,
wherever they are not separated one from the other by intervening fluvial valleys,
plains denuded by erosion, or lacustrine tracts that have been gradually tilled up by
alluvial deposits. Unlike the central mountain masses, the outer ridges are not of
granitic formation, but consist mostly of secondary rocks. Here Grandidier,
Richardson, and Hildebrandt have found fossil remains ranging between the oolitic
and the chalk periods, as well as the fossil bones of large animals now extinct.
Some scattered boulders occurring at the foot of the mountains in various parts of
the countrj' are believed by Sibree to be erratic, so that Madagascar would also
appear to have had its glacial epoch.

Volcanic Agexcies.

But however this be, the island has certainly had its period of volcanic activity,
dating from times long antecedent to aU historic records. Near the edge of the
eastern escarpments explorers have discovered hundreds of cones whence were
formerly discharged copious lava streams. Several craters also occur near the
granite formations in the central mass of Ankaratra, and the higher summits them-
selves, culminating points of the island, are also igneous cones, the centres of former
volcanic activity. From them lavas have been discharged in all directions, but
especially towards the south. One of the streams on this side is no less than 24
miles long, the lavas ramifying far into the plains, where their dark colour
presents a sharp contrast with the bright red tint of the surrounding argillaceous
formations.

Around the shores of Lake Itasy, towards the north-west, Mullens reckoned as
many as forty cones of all sizes, some still perfect, others with breached craters,
some isolated, others clustered in separate groups. To their overflow was due the
creation of the lake itself, whose waters were gradually collected in a single reser-
voir behind this obstruction to the natural outflow. Farther south a whole plain,
resembling that of the " Phlegrsean Fields " in Italy, is thickly studded with
mounds and hillocks, the flues of a vast but now extinct furnace. According to a
vague local tradition, these underground fires were still smouldering since the
occupation of the country by the ancestors of the present inhabitants.

Since the time of !Mullens, the volcanic region grouped round Lake Itasy was
again visited in 1885 by 31r. R. Baron, who gives a detailed account of the typical
volcano of Amboditaimamo, on the north side of the lake, and towards the northern
verge of this igneous district. " It possesses a breached crater turned towards the
east ; from this has issued a stream of lava which, following the direction of the
lowest level of the ground, has swept through a small valley round the northern end
of the mountain, and spread out at its west foot. This sheet of lava, which is hor-
ribly rough on the surface, occupies but a small area of two or three square miles.

EI\"EES OF MADAGASCAB. 429

It has been arrested in its flow in front by the side of the low hills. It is cut through
in one part by a stream, which in some places has worn a channel to the depth of
80 or 90 feet. Its surface, which is slightly cellular, is covered by some hundreds
of mammiform hillocks, which must have been formed during the cooling of the
liquid mass. The hillocks are mostly from 20 to 30 feet high, and apparently are
heaped up masses of lava, and not hollow blisters. The lava itself is black, heavy,
and compact, being porphjTitic, with somewhat large crystals of augite." *

The particidars collected by this observer tend on the whole to show that the
Lake Itasy volcanoes have been extinct for a longer period than had hitherto been
supposed, and the channel 80 or 90 feet deep worn by fluvial action through some
of the hard porphyritic eruptive rocks certainly points at very great antiquity.

In the northern part of the island volcanoes are also very numerous. Xorth-
east of Anton-Gil Bay rises one of these " burnt " mountains, whose crater is flooded
by a tarn teeming with fish, and whose outer slopes are formed by refuse, white at
the base, and red round about the highest crest. Amber Cape, at the northern-
most extremity of Madagascar, is itself a volcano, whose lava sheets still rise above
the surrounding waters. The neighbouring insular groups of Nossi-Be, Mayotte,
and Anjuan, are likewise of igneous origin, and in many parts of the mainland
occur thermal springs and jets of carbonic acid, fatal to insects and small animals.
Earthquakes are also frequent in several districts.

Rivers.

Being well exposed to the moist trade winds from the Indian Ocean, Madagascar
everywhere abounds in running waters, except towards the extreme south, which
is at times swept by the dry atmospheric currents from the South African mainland.
The eastern slope of the island receives the heaviest rainfall, although the largest
fluvial systems are not developed on this side. Here the precipitous slope of the
hills, combined with their proximity to the coast, prevents the streams from acquir-
ing any great size before reaching the sea. Most of them are in fact mere torrents
less than sixty miles in length. One of the most copious is the Tengteng, or
Manompa, which rises in a longitudinal valley between two parallel chains, one of
which it pierces through a deep rocky gorge on its course to the sea, which it
reaches opposite the island of St. Mary.

The Maningori also collects its head-waters on an upland plain between the
main range and the barrier formed by the edge of the sustaining plateau. Its
waters being hemmed in by this barrier, at first spread out in marshes, and are then
collected in the broad but shallow basin of Lake Alaotra. This flooded depression
extends for some 15 miles along the longitudinal valley before it finds an outlet in
a deep rocky channel, through which its overflow finds its way to the outer slope
and thence to the coast near Fenoarivo.

Formerly Lake Alaotra formed a great inland sea no less than 200 miles long,

* nature, March 4, 1886.

dSO

SOUTH AXD EAST AFRICA.

disposed parallel with the main range and the seaboard. Old terraced beaches
encircling the upland Sihanaka and Ankai valleys clearly show that the lacustrine
waters at one time stood fxilly 1,100 feet above their present level. South of Tama-
tave and Andovoranto the most copious stream on the east slope of the island is the

Onibe River, which also re-
Fig. 132. — Laoooxs on thb East Coast of Macaoascar.
Scale 1 : 2.700.ono

ceives some contributions from
the longitudinal vallej's, but
which is chiefly fed by the
torrents descending from the
great central mass of the An-
karatra highlands. Farther
south, in the Betsileo territory,
rises the Matitanana, or " Dead
hand," a sacred stream smaller
than the Onibe, and with a
more obstructed course. One
of its cataracts at the issue of
the mountains is no less than
600 feet high, and near it rises
an abundant thermal spring.

Although the rivers flow-
ing eastwards to the Indian
Ocean are closed to navigation
above their estuaries, these
estuaries themselves, ramify-
ing inland and connected to-
gether by lateral channels,
present a great extent of navi-
gable waters along the coast-
lands. A few cuttings made
here and there across the sands
and coral banks woiJd enable
small steamers to ply in smooth
water all the way from Ivon-
dru, near Tamatave, to the
mouth of the Matitanana —
that is to say, for a distance of
over 300 miles, reckoning all
the windings of the channel.
Already, in 1864, Captain Eooke had thoroughly surveyed this water highway,
which is here and there obstructed by mud banks and the stakes of the fishermen
set all in a row. The ampanalana, or portages, occurring at various points of the
future canal, which King Eadama I. had already began to construct, have at high
water a collective length of about 28 miles.

^° East^fGr-eeowIch

I'eplhs.

0 to 320
Feet.

320 Feet and
upwards.

—. eoUiles.

COAST OF MADAGASCAR.

431

Fig. 133.-

-Eeosions on the East (Doast ahd
AxTON-Gn, Bat.

Scale 1 : 3,700,000.

Thus the eastern seaboard presents a double coastline : the outer shore, exposed
to the fury of the surf ; and the inner beach, washed by the still waters of the
muddv winding channel, mostly fringed with mangroves. These estuaries, which
receive about fifty small streams from the interior, and which communicate with
the open sea bv a few easily accessible passages, present the appearance of a long
chain of lakes or lagoons, lining the coast for hundreds of miles. In many places
they merge in an inextricable system of
tortuous channels, which are sometimes
quite dry in simimer, and which are
known only to a few pilots.

The outer line separating these lagoons
from the ocean consists in many places of
coral reefs covered by the action of the
waves with sands and shells, and thus
gradually transformed to a continuous
dyke or embankment, which presents an
effectual barrier against the encroach-
ments of the sea. Forest trees have here
struck root, affording a grateful shade
to the numerous villages following con-
tinuously along the beach. Under the
action of the marine current, which here
flows close in-shore, the coastline has
acquired a surprisingly regular form.
From the inlet of Fort Dauphin, at the
south-east comer of the island, for a
distance of 540 miles northwards to
Marofototra, the seaboard is almost per-
fectly rectilinear, and vessels frequenting
these waters usually keep well off the
coast in order to avoid the neighbouring
reefs

North of Marofototra the beach no
longer presents the same uniformity, and
at Anton-Gil Bay even develops a deep
inlet under the shelter of a bold volca-
nic promontory. But the island of

St. Mary (Nossi-Boraha), which stretches like a spear -head in front of
Tengteng Bay, appears to be the svirviving fragment of an outer coast-
line, which formed a northern continuation of the southern rectilinear wall,
and connected Marofototra with Cape Maseala. The ramifying bay of Diego
Suarez at the northern extremity of Madagascar owes its existence to the vol-
canic headland of Amber Cape, which here encloses an extensive body of marine
waters.

50'ro- E«JofGn

Depths.

0to320

S20 Feet and

Feet.

upwards.

482 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

On the west slope facing the Mozambique Channel some of the rivers, which
have their sources on the eastern highlands near the Indian Ocean, develop fluA-ial
basins of considerable extent. South of the Betsileo territory the Mangoka,
or St. Vincent, drains a superficial area of not less than 20,000 square miles.
Farther north the Tsijobonina is fed by the numerous streams descending from
the Ankaratra volcanoes and from all the surrounding igneous districts. To this
fluvial system also belongs the lacustrine depression of Lake Itasy, which finds an
escape in this direction for its pent-up waters.

The Tkopa, largest of all the rivers of Madagascar, sends to the Bay of Bom-
betok all the drainage of the province of luierina, in which is situated the capital
of the Hova kingdom. "With its great tributary, the Betsiboka, it has a total
length of not less than 500 miles, and according to Sibree, a steamer of light
draught might ascend the Betsiboka branch for a distance of 90 miles from
the sea. In the north-west part of the island all the more important streams
discharge their waters into winding and ramifying marine inlets, which pre-
sent a remote resemblance to the Scandinavian fjords, but which might be
more correctlj^ compared with the indentations on the coast of Brittany. They
are probablj' due to an analogous cause, that is to say, the gradual disinte-
gration of the granitic and other rocks along the lines of fracture or least
resistance.

Numerous islets, surviving fragments of the mainland, obstruct the entrance of
the inlets, or continue the headlands seawards. One of these islands is Nossi-B^,
evidently a geographical dependence of Madagascar, and famous for its groups of
volcanic cones, some of whose extinct craters are now flooded by little lakes. Ac-
cording to Grandidier, the east coast, continually eroded by the marine currents,
is gradually receding, except at the points where, as at Tamatave and Foulepointe
(Marofototra), the beach is protected by banks of coral reefs. But the opposite
process seems to be at work on the west side of the island, where the land,
through the action of the pol}i)s, appears to be steadily gaining on the marine
waters. Thus several bays have already been enclosed by the encroachments
of the shore-line and transformed to lakes.

Climate.

Madagascar, which according to latitude belongs to the torrid zone, enjoys a
temperate climate, thanks to the great mean elevation of the land. From the sea-
board to the uplands of the interior, observers have recorded a normal decrease of
temperature, while the summits of Ankaratra and of the other highlands, penetrate
into the frigid zone, the surface of the lakes and tarns being here frequently
icebound. But thanks to the surrounding marine waters, whose normal tem-
perature is maintained by the warm currents, Madagascar enjoj's on the whole
a very equable climate, presenting no sudden transitions from heat to cold. At
Tananarivo, on the elevated inland plateaux, the glass never falls in winter below

<
z
<

->!
■<

• CLIMATE OF MADAGASCAE. 433

21° F., while at Tamatave, on the sea-coast, it never rises in summer above 93°,
and at the island of St. Mary, farther north, above 98^ or 100° F.*

Madagascar is entirely comprised within the zone of the south-eastern trade
winds ; but, owing to the heating of the ground, these winds are generally
deflected from their normal course, and usually set in the direction from east to
west. Brault's charts, which embody many thousand meteorological observations,
show that the atmospheric system is most regular during the dry season, that is to
say, when the sun stands vertically above the north tropical zone, from April to
September. But when it returns to the south, accompanied by its attendant
rain-bearing clouds and vapours, the winds often change their direction and
character. On the coasts of Madagascar they take the form of monsoons, chiefly
in the north-west, during the hot, wet seasons from October to March. This is
also the period of storms and hurricanes, although the true cyclones, so dangerous
in the waters of the Mascarenhas Archipelago, seldom visit the great island. They
occasionally, however, reach these latitudes, and in the beginning of 1888 a fierce
gale wrecked eleven vessels on the coast of Tamatave.f

The summer heats coinciding with the wet season, render a residence on the
low-lying east coast extremely dangerous, more especially as this side of the island
is more exposed to the vapour-charged clouds rolling up from the Indian Ocean.
The ominous title of "graveyard of the Europeans," given to the eastern seaboard
of Madagascar, is more particularly justified in the months of January and
Februarj', when the sky is overcast with heavy grey fogs. The intermingling of
the fresh and salt waters in the estuaries, which receive the discharge of the
swollen rivers from the interior, results in a great mortality of the organisms
belonging to the two different mediums. The atmosphere, from this and other
causes, becomes charged with dangerous exhalations, and to avoid the fevers here
endemic, both Europeans and natives hasten to withdraw to the breezy and salu-
brious uplands hi the interior. But many a traveller has sacrificed his life to his
love of science by lingering in the fever- stricken lowland districts.

Flora.

Like the climatic phenomena, the vegetation is imperceptibly modified with the
relief of the land, the different species changing simultaneously with the general
aspect of the indigenous flora. The splendour of the dense tropical vegetation
observed by travellers on the well- watered eastern seaboard has led them to
suppose that the whole island everywhere possesses a rich soil, clothed with a
gorgeous array of verdure. But such is far from being the case. The granitic

* Winter and summer temperatures on 'ooth coasts and on the plateaux, according to Grandidier : —

West Coast. Plateaox. East Coast.

(Telia or TuUear, (Tananarive, 18° 55' S. Lat., (Tamatave.

23° 24' S. Lat) 4,800 feet high.) 18° 10' S. Lttt.)

Lowest temperature . . 50° F. (July) 42° F. (June— August) 59° F. (July)

Highest temperature 75° F. (January) 83° F. (November) 93° F. (Dec., January)

Difference . . . 25' F. 41° F. 34° F.

f Mean rainfall at Tananarivo (1881 — 84), 62 inches.
AFRICA IV. f f

484

SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

rocks of the interior, as well as the plains of Tertiary formation, are for the most
part unproductive, while vast tracts are entirely destitute of trees, and even of
scrub. Boundless spaces occur in which nothing grows except coarse herbaceous

plants.

But in the central regions of the plateau there are also some rich and fertile

valleys, where the vegetable
Fig. 134. — CiBCULAB F0BE8T Zone, Masaoasoab.

Scale 1 : 13,200,000.

soil washed down by the run-
ning waters has been de-
posited in thick layers, and
where the peasant receives a
tenfold return for his labour.
The geological constitution of
Madagascar is revealed, so to
say, by the distribution of
its woodlands, which are dis-
posed in a continuous belt
round the periphery of the
island, either on the low-lying
coastlands or in the zone of
the outer escarpments. On
the cast side the belt of forests
is twofold, divided by an in-
termediate depression. On
the west side there occurs a
broad gap on the uninhabited
plains which stretch to the
west of the Ikopa River.
Some wooded tracts of varj'-
in? size are also scattered over
the surface within the outer
forest zone.

The Madagascar flora,
which is better known than
that of the opposite regions on
the African mainland, presents
several features of an original
character. There are probably
altogether about four thousand
five hundred species, of which
two thousand five hundred have already been studied and classified. Of these
some have their analogies in the African and others in the South American vege-
table world ; but in their general physiognomy they approach nearest to the
Asiatic kingdom. The vegetation is also most varied and exuberant on the eastern
seaboard, that is, on the side facing the Asiatic continent. The southern and

Egt pp. Erf e*'

Depths.

250 Fatfaoms.

250 to 600
Fathoms.

600 to 1 000
Fathoms.

1,000 Fathoms
and upwards.

180 Miles.

FLORA OP ItlADAGASCAR. 435

western slopes, with a dryer climate and more arid soil, have a correspondingly
poorer vegetation. The plants of these regions, being subject to longer periods
of drought and exposed to the hot winds from the neighbouring continent, have a
harder foliage and thicker roots. Nevertheless, thorny plants, such as abound in the
badly watered parts of Africa, are nowhere met with in the districts of Madagascar
possessing a similar climate ; nor are acacias anywhere seen.

One of the most remarkable members of the insular flora is a species of baobab,
first described by Grandidier. Without acquiring the colossal dimensions of its
African congener, it excels in the grace and majesty of its outlines. The
tamarind also is a very noble tree, but it occurs only on the west slope of the
island, where the Sakalava chiefs usually construct their dwellings beneath the
shade of its wide-spreading branches. The cocoanut-palm, which flourishes in all
the maritime districts, is believed to be of exotic origin. According to some
authorities, it was introduced, together with the bread-tree, by the Malays, from the
Eastern Archipelago. But Madagascar also possesses some indigenous species
of palms, amongst others the sago-tree, a variety of the hyphmna akin to the
dum-palm of the Nilotic regions, and the raphia, noted for its large, thickset
trunk, its masses of minute foliage, and enormous bunches of fruit, weighing as
much as three hundred pounds and upwards.

The pandanus (mkoa), with its spiral sword- shaped leaves, thrives on the more
arid tracts along the seaboard, while the muddy estuaries and coast lagoons are
everywhere overgrown with the widely diffused mangrove. The brushwood and
herbaceous vegetation of the depressions, and occasionally of the hill slopes, is
overshadowed by a magnificent species of cannacorus, remarkable for the perfect
regularity of its broad fern-like leaves. This is the ravenala, or urania speciosa,
more commonly known as the traveller's tree, because its foliage collects the
rain-water in sufiicient quantity to slake the thirst of passing wayfarers. But it
occurs chiefly in well-irrigated regions where water is abundant, and its chief
advantage is derived from the excellent building material which it supplies to the
inhabitants of the rural districts. The trunk is used for the framework of their
houses, the larger branches for beams and rafters, the foliage for thatching the
roofs.

The endemic flora of Madagascar is represented by many other remarkable
forms, such as the ovirandrona [urirandra fenesfrnlis), an aquatic plant whose
oval leaves are variegated like pieces of lace ; the filao, or "club-tree " {casuarina
laterifolia) , whose enormous roots serve to bind the shifting sands along some parts
of the seaboard ; the brehmia spinosa, which, although a member of the poisonous
strychnos family, nevertheless yields an edible fruit ; the (iiigrceciim sesqiiipedale, a
gigantic orchid which clothes with a mantle of verdure the huge stems of old
forest trees ; the nepenthe, or pitcher-plant, whose large flowers affect the form of
pendant vessels, and contain a considerable supply of water. Trees yielding useful
timber materials, as well as fine cabinet-woods, are very numerous, including such
valuable varieties as teak, ebony, matwood, violet ebony, and rosewood. Unfor-
tunately, the process of disaiforesting is carried on without interruption. It is

436 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

related by an English traveller that, in order to clear a passage for a large tomb-
stone, as many as twenty-five thousand trees were felled in a forest in the Betsileo
territory.*

Fauna.

The Malagasy fauna, no less if not more original than the flora, excites the
wonder of all naturalists, and causes them to indulge in all manner of speculations
on the geological history of the island. The species peculiar to this insidar region
has given rise to the h^-pothesis, at first suggested by Geoffrey Saint-IIilaire, and
afterwards more fully elaborated by the English naturalist Sclater, that Mada-
gascar must be the remains of a continent which filled a part at least of the space
now flooded by the waters of the Indian Ocean. This hj'pothctical continent even
received the name of Lemuria, from the characteristic members of the ape-like
lemurian family, which is represented in Madagascar by a larger nimiber of
distinct species than in Africa or the Eastern Archipelago.

Several men of science have accepted this suggestion in a more or less modified
form, and Hieckel himself at one time went so far as to ask whether this Lemuria,
which has long ceased to exist, should not be regarded as the cradle and centre of
dispersion of the various races of mankind. But Alfred Russell "Wallace, after
having for some time warmly upheld the theory that the Madagascar fauna attests
the former existence of a vast Lemurian continent, now no longer believes in such
enormous changes in the distribution of land and water on the surface of the globe.
Nevertheless this writer must still feel compelled to admit that very considerable
modifications have certainly taken place in the relative positions of the continents
and oceanic basins.

In order to explain the presence of the African species which are also found in
the island of Madagascar, Wallace supposes that the two regions must formerly
have been united, but that at that time Africa itself, still separated from the
Mediterranean lands by a broad marine inlet, possessed none of the animal species
such as the lion, rhinoceros, elephant, giraffe, and gazelle, which afterwards arrived
from the northern regions. In the same way he endeavours to explain, by tempo-
rary isthmuses connecting continent with continent, or by seas separating them,
the appearance in or the absence from Madagascar of diverse Asiatic, Malayan,
Australian, or American animal tj-pes.t It is thus evident that even those
naturalists who most strenuously maintain the long stability of the continental
masses are themselves compelled to admit that the dry land has been profoundly
modified during the course of ages.

AVhile the oceanic islands are in general extremely poor in mammalians,
Madagascar on the contrary possesses as many as sixty-six species of this order, a
sufficient proof that this island must at one time have formed part of a much larger
region. These mammals, however, are grouped in such a manner as to constitute

* Baron, Antananariro Annual, 1887.

t Comparative Antiquity of Continents ; Geographical Distribution of Animalt i Island Life.

FAUXA OF MADAGASCAR. 437

an essentially original fauna. Thus half of the insular species consists of lemurians,
makis, and others, which are distinguished by their habits, resembling those of
squirrels, their long tails, their enormous hands, their piercing cries and shrieks,
like those of human beings ; and lastly, their way of bounding along like kangaroos.
There is a propithecan, a member of the indris family, which when closely pursued
by the hunter can clear thirty-two or thirty- three feet at a single spring. Thanks
to its branchial membrane, forming a kind of parachute or bat's %ving, it seems
rather to fly than to jump from tree to tree (Grandidier) .

All these species, each of which occupies a well-defined range, are easily tamed,
and one of them, the babakoto {lichanotus Indris), is even trained to catch birds,
like the hawks and falcons of mediaeval times.* The aye-aye {cheiromys) , best
known of all these lemurians, remains dormant throughout the dry season, and
builds itself a real nest ; while the catfa inhabits rocky districts.

The tendreks {tanrecs), or centetes, another family of mammals allied to our
hedgehogs, and who sleep through the simimer, are represented by several species
whose congeners are foxmd nowhere else nearer than Cuba and Haiti in the West
Indies. The pintsala, or cryptoprocta ferox, a feline unknown elsewhere, and a few
civet cats, are the only carnivorous mammals in the island, whose fauna also
includes some rats, mice, and the potamoc/ioerus larvatus, or "masked" water-hog.
The oxen and wild dogs often met in the forests or on the grassy steppes appear
to be the descendants of domestic animals which have reverted to the savage
state, and some naturalists include a species of cat in the same category. The
European rats, which accompany the Western peoples in aU their migrations,
have also already invaded Madagascar.

More than half the species of birds are entirely peculiar to the great island,
in their general physiognomy resembling the Malayan much more than the
African forms. Till recent times — that is to say, within, perhaps, the last two or
three centuries — there still survived the apyornis maximus, a gigantic member of
the ostrich family, which was known to the Arab travellers of the Middle Ages,
and which figures in some of the marvellous tales of the " Thousand and One
Nights." This is the legendary roc, or griffon of Marco Polo, which was said to
seize elephants in its talons and carry them off to the summits of lofty mountains.
Some of the eggs of the aepyornis have been found embedded in the alluvial soil
and elsewhere, the largest of which, measuring nearly thirteen inches in length,
was calculated to have a capacity of ten quarts and an eighth, or about as much
as six eggs of the ostrich, sixteen of the cassowary, and a hundred and forty-
eight of the common hen. From the dimensions of the bones it is supposed that
this ffi^antic bird must have been at least double the size of the largest ostrich.

Grandidier, who first discovered the remains of the aepyornis, has also brought
to light the skeletons of a huge turtle and of a variety of the hippopotamus. The
crocodile of Madagascar, which swarms in the rivers on both slopes of the island,
appears to constitute an independent species, as does also a gigantic boa constrictor,
which, according to the local legends, formerly attacked both men and cattle.
* Hartmanu, Madagascar und die Itiseln Seychellen.

488 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

Several other ophidians are included in the Madagascar fauna, but according to
most naturalists, none of these snakes appear to be poisonous, although this state-
ment is doubted by Houlder * and some other travellers.

On the other hand, the natives stand in much dread of two species of spiders,
whose bite is even said to be fatal. The world of insects and smaller animals is
extremely varied, and like that of the mammals, includes types presenting striking
analogies with those of all the other continents, from Africa to Australia and
South America. No naturalist has thrown more light on this insular fauna than
M. Grandidier, our knowledge of which he has enlarged by the discovery of six-
teen mammalians, ten birds, twenty-five reptiles, and eighteen saurians, besides
numerous insects and other small animals.

Inhabitants.

No stone weapons or implements have been discovered in Madagascar,! a fact
which seems to justify the supposition that the island remained uninhabited till
the arrival of already half-civilised settlers. Like the indigenous faima, the human
inhabitants of this region arc of diverse origin, and through these various elements
it is connected with the vast semicircle of lands which sweep round the Indian
Ocean from Africa and Southern Asia to the Malayo-Polynesian archipelagoes.
But although immigrants have certainly arrived from the west, north, and east,
there can bo no doubt that the dominant influence, if not in numbers at all events
in their relative higher culture, belongs to the peoples of Malayan or Oceanic
origin.

A convincing proof of this is afforded by the language which is current
amongst all the tribes, of whatever race, from one end of the island to the other.
Whether they be of Negro, Arab, Indian, or Malay descent, all the Malagasy
peoples speak a pliant, poetic, and melodious tongue, which careful philological
research has clearly shown to be related to the great linguistic family spread over
the whole of the Eastern Archipelago and the Polynesian islands. Their very
collective name of Malagasy has even been connected by Vinson, De Froberville,
and others with that of Malacca, in the Indo-Chinese peninsula. Numerous voca-
bularies, the earliest of which were a Dutch collection of 1604 and that of Arthu-
sius, dating from 1613, had already rendered this relationship more than probable,
while more recent systematic grammars and complete dictionaries have placed
beyond all doubt the hypothesis of the first scientific explorers.

Of a hundred and twenty familiar terms in Malagasy, nearly one hundred are
clearly of Malay origin, the rest being derived from Arabic, SwaheU, or some
other Bantu dialect. According to Mullens, the most striking resemblances and
analogies are found between the dialect of the Betsimisarakas of the east coast and
the Malays of the Indo-Chinese peninsula. All those agglutinated geographical
names which occur on the map of Madagascar, and which are often of such

* North-cast Madagascar,

t Sibree, The Great African Island.

INHABITANTS OF MADAGASCAR.

439

astonishing length, are for the most part extremely felicitous compound forms,
describing with graphic terseness the salient features of the locality.

The arrival of the Malayo-Polynesian immigrants must obviously be referred
back to a somewhat remote period. When the French settlers first made their
appearance on the south-east coast about two hundred and fifty years ago, Mada-
gascar was already occupied by numerous independent states and tribal communi-
ties, without any political cohesion with each other or any elements of a common

Fig. 135. — Ravojunahiteanioetvo, Hova Ministeb.

civilisation except their Malay speech. The original racial or national unity, to
which they were indebted for their common language, had long ceased to exist.
No ethnical groups in the island were at that time distinguished above the others
by any marked superiority of culture, except the smaU. Arab population, belonging
to a totally different race from the Malays.

But this Arab element, which had already been introduced iu the very first
century of the Hegira, was not strong enough to assimilate the indigenous popu-
lations, who had been brought earlier under more powerful influences. In the

440 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

thirteenth century an Arab writer speaks of the ishindcrs as " brothers of the
Chinese," and gives the name of " Malay " to one of their cities, and in the follow-
ing century allusion is made to the same city by the historian Edrisi.

No authentic historical records can be appealed to in support of the various
views entertained on the subject of the period when the first immigrants reached
the island and on the particular region whence they came. It is no longer possible
to sa)' with confidence what precise route they followed, although it would be
difficult to suggest any other probable highway besides that of the marine currents,
which, under the action of the trade winds, set regularly in the direction from
north-east to south-west across the Indian Ocean. These currents, which in the
year 1885 brought all the way from Java the pumice ejected by the tremendous
eruption of Krakatau in August, 1883, may also have easily enabled the native
praus or light craft to reach Madagascar from the Sunda Islands. Such distant
expeditions were even in remote times made by the Malay chiefs in the Eastern
Archipelago, so that they were fully justified in assuming the proud title of "masters
of the eastern and western winds and waters." *

Possibly the Chagos coralline archipelago, which, according to Darwin, has
subsided in comparatively recent times, may formerly have served as a convenient
station between the two regions. But in order to adapt themselves to their new
surroundings, the immigrants from the east had to change their manner of life, and
it thus happened that these roving seafarers gradually became settled tillers of the
land in the great island. Penetrating inland from the malarious districts round
the coast, they traversed the low-lying forest belt and climbed the slopes of the
central plateau, where their descendants still hold their ground. The " sUver
canoe " — that is, the tomb in which the sovereign of the Hova nation is always
buried — recalls the time when the dead were really interred in a boat, as is still the
custom amongst the Betsimisarakas of the east coast, as well as amongst numerous
Malayan communities.t So long have the Hovas been settled on the elevated table-
lands of the interior that they are no more able than Europeans themselves to
endure the deadly climate of the coastlands. Leprosy and other cutaneous diseases
are prevalent amongst them.

Viewed as a whole, Madagascar presents a considerable mixture of diverse
populations, none of which have preserved the primitive types in an absolutely
pure state. In some of the insular groups, notably those of the west coast, the
Negro element is predominant, and here are met many individuals differing little
from the true African, with robust frames, black or deep brown complexion, flat
features, and crisp or woolly hair. In the central provinces most of the tribes
approach the ordinary Malay type, being distinguished by a coppery colour, black
lank hair, and beautiful white teeth. At the two opposite extremities of the island,
that is to say, on the north-west and south-east sides, occurs the so-called "white,"
that is, the Arab type. According to Grandidier, the Indians of Malabar have also
left numerous traces of their residence on the west coast, where several families

• Cook, A Voyage to the Pacific.

t Rev. James Sibree, Antananarivo Annual, 1887.

THE HOVAS.

441

of chiefs claim this Hindu descent. In many tribes the caste system prevails,
and amongst these communities the physical appearance of the people differs no
less than the social conditions. The rulers evidently belong to a different race from
their subjects.

The Hovas.

The Hovas, who are at present the most numerous and, before 1895, the dominant
people, appear to have preserved the original Malay type, at least amongst the

Kg. 136. — Betsileo Woman.

chiefs and higher circles. By some writers they are connected either with the
Battas of North Simiatra and the neighbouring island of Nias, with the natives of
Java and Bali, or with the Tagalas of the Philippine Archipelago.* Resemblances
have also been pointed out between the Hovas and the Siamese, the Samoans, the
Tonga Islanders, and even the Japanese. Thus the various A-iews held by observers

• Marsden, History of Sumatra ; W. von Eamboldt, The Eawi Language ; Crawfurd, Grammar of the
Malay Language, Introduction.

442 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA. '

themselves would seem to indicate a diverse origin of the Hovas, due no doubt to
repeated arrivals from the East. At the same time all these eastern invaders,
whether Sundanese, Samoans, Siamese, or Japanese, may be regarded as belonging
to the same family of mankind, at least when compared with the immigrants from
Africa.

In the middle of the seventeenth century, when the island was first described
by Flacourt, the Hovas were still unknown as a separate nationality, or else con-
founded, under other names, with the neighbouring tribes. In fact the " Oves "
do not make their appearance in history till the second half of the eighteenth
century, when they regained their independence from the Sakalavas, and when the
present Hova kingdom was founded by their chief, the " Lord who lives in the
heart of Imerina." At that time the natives of the plateaux called themselves
Ambartilanitra, that is to say, " People living under the heavens," or else Aniba-
niaiidro, that is "People living under the light of day." These names they had
adopted either because their country, Imerina, was for them the whole world, or
because it occupied the elevated upland regions above the surrounding low-lying
coastlands. Even still the term Hora is applied only to the middle classes, the
nobles taking the designation of Amlriana, while the slaves are collectively known
either as Mainti or Andevo. But at present the various conquered peoples affect
the name of " Hovas," in order thus to identify themselves ■n'ith the dominant
races ; while the still unreduced tribes scornfully attribute to the inhabitants of
Imerina the opprobrious epithet of Amboalambo, or " Swine-dogs," which, however,
is said to have been formerly taken in a complimentary sense.

Thus the populations collectively grouped as Hovas increase both by the con-
tinual reduction of neighbouring tribes and by the natural excess of births over
deaths, which is considerable in these mountainous regions, where the women are
very prolific. Owing to this increase, colonies of Hovas are constantly being
founded in various parts of the island at great distances from their native plateau,
but especiall}' in the region north of Lake Alaotra.

Travellers, for the most part English and French, differ greatly in their
estimate of the Hova character, a circumstance which must be attributed not only
to the prejudices of political rivalry, but also to the differences in the social
classes themselves with whom they have come in contact. Naturally' the greatest
contrasts are fomid to exist between the inhabitants of the large to^vns, and espe-
cially of the capital, and those of the rural districts. The former have to live in
an atmosphere of court intrigues, to temporize and tack about, so as to avoid giving
offence to anj^ of the rival parties, and thus preserve their influence, and even
their lives. They thus become astute diplomatists, past-masters in the arts of
deceit and cajolery, while the latter, peaceful tillers of the land, have preserved the
national virtues of courtesy, friendliness, and hospitality. The peasantry are as a
rule very industrious, kind to their wives and children, and much attached to
" the land of their forefathers." They are no doubt accused by the foreign traders
of being eager for gain, and inclined to drive hard bargains ; but this is a charge
which the natives may justly fling back on their accusers.

THE HOVAS.

443

Fig. 137. — iNHABITAilTS OP MaDAGASCAE.

Scale 1 : 12,000,mo.

According to Grandidier the Hovas, taking the term in the widest sense, so as
to include all the tribes of the central regions who have adopted the name of the
victorious nation, number altogether about one million souls, or, say, one-lhird
of the whole population of the island. Thanks to the greater relative density of
the inhabitants in their
territory, as well as to
the commanding posi-
tion occupied by them
in the centre of the
island, they have natu-
rally acquired a decided
superiority over the dis-
cordant tribal groups
scattered over the low-
lying coastlands. Effect
has been given to this
natural superiority by
their better organised
administration, sup-
ported by troops trained
to European methods
of warfare by English
and other foreign
officers.

A vast part of the
territory encircling the
central province of Im-
erina is still almost un-
inhabited, especially iu
the western districts.
In this direction stretch
extensive wildernesses,
where the traveller may
journey for days to-
gether without meeting
a single group of habita-
tions. To these fron-
tier tracts the EngHsh

explorers have given the name of No Man's Land ; according to Grandidier, they
neither are nor can be inhabited.

ISO miles.

During

The Sakai.av.\s.
the last century- the military preponderance belonged to the people of

444 SOUTH AND BAST AFEICA.

the west coast, collectively known as Sakalavas, or "^Icn of the Long Plains." *
These Sakalavas, who were weakened by being divided into two independent
kingdoms, besides several autonomous chieftaincies, were for a time, if not actually
reduced by the Ilovas, at least officially abandoned bj' their former French allies
to the generosity of the dominant race. But the stations now occupied by the
French at all the strategical points in the Sakalava territory render the future
conquest of the whole country a mere question of time.

The Alahafali of the south-western regions, the Anti-Fiherenanas, Anti-Manas,
Anti-Mahilakas, Anti-Bueni, and other tribes, all belong to the Sakalava family,
which numbers altogether about half a million of souls, t Amongst these Mala-
gasy peoples the Negro seems on the whole to prevail over the Malay type. The
hair is neither straight, as in the latter, nor yet woolly, as in the former, but
undulating and kinky ; the nose broad and flat, the mouth protruding, with some-
what thick and pouting lips. The calf is well developed and the foot of remark-
ably shapely form, and the people are generally nimble, active, and of robust con-
stitution, leprosy, so common amongst the Hovas, rarely occurring amongst them.

The purest branch of the Sakalava race are the Mashicores, who dwell in the
interior, but in many of the seaboard districts they have become crossed with
Arabs. The Vezos, that is to say "swimmers," or inhabitants of the sea-shore, in
the lately reduced Sakalava kingdoms of Fiherenana and Kitombo, on the south-
west coast, are of almost white complexion. They even claim to bo whites, on the
ground of their repeated interminglings with the Hindu immigrants, the English
and French corsairs of the last two centuries, and the inhabitants of Reunion who
come to trade in all the ports along the coast. J Notwithstanding the abundant
evidence of black blood, the Sakalavas are connected by no direct records with any
of the populations on the opposite mainland ; nor is it possible now to determine
with any accuracy the precise time when the Negroes began to pass over to the
great island either in a body, or, as is more probable, in successive expeditions
spread over long periods. The inhabitants of the coastlands, however, still possess
little flotillas of outriggers, with which fishermen and traders undertake long
voyages, and with which, till recently, the corsairs paid yearly piratical expe-
ditions to the Comoro Islands. In the year 1805 these Sakalava rovers even
captured a Portuguese corvette near the port of Ibo, on the Mozambique coast.

At the same time these Negroid Malagasy peoples may readily be distinguished
from the pure Negro slaves introduced from time to time by the Arabs into the
ports along the Sakalava seaboard. These slaves belong for the most part to the
Makua (Ma-Kua) nation, a numerous Mozambique people whose tribal communities
are scattered over the extensive region between the Zambeze and the Rovuma basins.
According to Baron, they call themselves by the collective name of Zaza-Manga.

• This etymology, however, although given by the Sakalavas themselves, has been questioned.
According to some authorities the word really means " Long cats," and was attributed to them in an
offensive sense.

t The prefix And, Aula, Ante, before ethnical names, has the meaning of here, people of here, that is,
indigenous inhabitants.

X Sibree, The Great African Itland.

THE BETSILEO AND BAEA TRIBES. 445

The Betsileo, Bara, and Neighbouring Tribes.

The Betsileo, that is to say " Invincible," who dwell to the number of about
three hundred thousand in the mountainous region bordering northwards on
Imerina, no longer deserve this national designation. They are at present, for the
most part, peaceful agriculturists, amongst whom the black seems greatly to
prevail over the Malay element. According to Sibree they are the tallest of all the
Malagasy people, with average stature about six feet.

Their neighbours the Baras, that is " Barbarians," who occupy the plateau
farther south, are in appearance more like the Sakalava people, and like them also
have partly preserved their political independence. The section of the nation who
have taken refuge on the banks of the lake which floods the highest depression on
Mount Ivohibe, are able from that vantage-ground to defy the attempts of their
assailants.

Farther south, the Ant' Androi, who occupy the southern extremity of
Madagascar, are also still unreduced. Like their western neighbours, the Mahafali,
they keep carefully aloof from all strangers, and these two tribes are regarded as the
rudest of all the Malagasy peoples. The Ant' Anossi, or " People of the Islands,"
or " Coastlands," with whom the early French settlers at Saint-Lucia and Fort
Dauphin first came in contact, and whom they oppressed so cruelly, are now again
subject to the French rule.

The Ant' Aisaka tribe, which follows northward on the east side of the island,
closely resembles the Sakalavas, and has probably been crossed by the same Negro
elements. The tribal name means " Hand Fishers," in allusion to their former
primitive way of capturing fish. Conterminous with them, still going northwards,
are the Ant' A'imoro, or " Moors," another coast people on the east side, who claim
to be descended from the Arabs of Mecca. In support of this claim they show
some ancient' documents written in Arabic characters, which, however, cannot
explain away the unmistakable evidence of intermixture.

Above the Ant' Aimoro and Ant' Ambaboaka peoples the wooded upland valleys
are occupied by the Ant' Anala or " Forest People," who have for the most part
been able to maintain their independence, thanks to the inaccessible position of the
natural fastnesses where they have their camping-grounds. One of these strong-
holds, Mount Ikiongo or Ikongo, which towers 1,600 feet above the surrounding
lands, presents even more precipitous flanks than Ivohibe. It terminates in almost
sheer rocky walls on all sides, except at one point scaled by a narrow path which
might be easily defended by a handful of resolute men. Guard-houses or watch-
towers have been erected at intervals round about the crest of the moimtain ; while
five hamlets, surrounded by fields and limpid brooks, are scattered over the upper
plateau, which is eight miles long by four broad.

The independent branch of the Ant' Anala tribe, who in time of war take
refuge on the Ikongo heights, are commonly designated by the name of the
mountain itself.

Throughout the whole of the south-eastern part of Madagascar the populations

44« SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

appear to have been at some time much subject to Arab iufluences. The Zafe-
Raminia, or " Whites," mentioned bj' Flacourt and other contemporary writers,
were certainly either Arabs or Hindus professing the Mohammedan religion.
Numerous chiefs amongst all the local tribes claim Arab descent, while the ombias
or priests, corresponding to the omassi of the Sakalavas, disseminate usages and
ceremonies which are undoubtedly derived from the precepts of Islam.*

The Betsimisarakas and Sihanakas.

Of all the nations on the eastern seaboard, the most numerous are the now
reduced Betsimisarakas or " United People," well known to travellers, who have
to cross their territory on the route from Tamatave to Tananarivo, capital of
Madagascar. Both the Betsimisarakas and their neighbours, the Betanimenas, or
" People of the Red Land," who claim to be descended from the Babakoto Indris,
are tall and robust, but of a gentle, patient disposition, in other respects differing
little from their Hova rulers. They number collectively about three hundred
thousand souls.

Prominent amongst the other peoples of the eastern seaboard are the
Ant' Ankai, or " Gladesmen," and the Bezanozano, or " Bushmen " (?) t who
occupy the long narrow Ankai Valley between two parallel ranges of forest-clad
mountains. These tribes have become intermediary agents, a sort of middlemen,
for the trade between the Hovas of the plateau and the Betsimisaraka coast-
landers. Nearly all the merchandise is transported by them over the difficult
mountain tracks and passes, and their habit of carrying heavy loads on the bare
shoulders has gradually developed fleshy welts which protect the shoulder-blade
from sudden shocks. The children are all born furnished with these protecting
excrescences.^

Farther north, in the depression now flooded bj' Lake Aloatta, dwell the
Ant' Sihanakas, that is, the " Lake People," or according to William Ellis, the
" Independent," fishers and shepherds, who tend the herds of their Hova masters.
Nearly all the utensils used by this tribe are made of reeds. During the rainy
season the inhabitants of some of the riverain and lacustrine villages do not take
the trouble to retire to the higher grounds rising above the level of the inimda-
tions. They simply embark, with their household goods and matting, on stout
rafts also made of reeds, and thus drift about with the current till the waters
subside.

The Sihanakas belong to the same tribal group as the Betsimisarakas ; but
farther on, the northern extremity of Madagascar is occupied by quite a different
people, the Ant' Ankaras, that is, either " Men of the North " or " Men of the
Rocks," who are distinguished from all the other inhabitants of the island by their
distinctly Kafij-like appearance, with woolly hair and thick lips. Of all the

• Max Leclerc ; A. Walen, Antananarivo Annual, 1883.

t So Jorgenscn explains the word, which others interpret in the sense of " Anarchists " or
"Rebels."

J Memoirs of the Anthropological Socuty, 1877.

THE SIHANAKAS AND KIMOS. 447

Malagasy nations they have also been brought most under the influence of the
teachings of Islam.

During the late political complications the Ant' Ankaras sided with the French
against the Hovas, and have in return reaped the same reward as their Sakalava
neighbours. In their vicinity dwell the Anrohors, rustic fisherfolk, who have the
reputation of being the rudest and most stupid of all the aborigines. Because
they have a peculiar dialect scarcely understood by their neighbours they are said
to be unable even to speak Malagasy properly.

The Kimos and other Aborigines.

Besides those of the chief nations that divide the Madagascar territory between
them, many other tribal names figure on the maps, which must be regarded either
as the designations of mere clans, castes, and other smaller sub-divisions, or else
synonymous ^dth the better-known appellations. But mention is also made of
certain dwarfish peoples, such as the Kimos, who are said to dwell amongst the
Baras ia the southern parts of the island. The early French travellers who refer
to them — the naturalist Commerson, and Be Modave, Grovemor of Fort Dauphin —
describe these pigmies as blacks with large head, crisp hair, long arms, very brave,
and skilful in the use of bow and arrow. But during the course of the present
century no trace has been discovered of their existence by any European explorer.

Flacourt also behoved in the existence of a cannibal tribe, the Ontaysatroihas,
who were said to devour their sick and aged relatives. Amongst these Malagasy
natives, possibly kinsmen of the Sumatran Battas, " the only graves of the fathers
and mothers are their children." *

Allusion is also made to the Behosi, said to dwell in the woodlands of the
western slope 'about the uninhabited borderlands, and described as a black people,
springing like monkeys from branch to branch and living on fruits, roots, and
lemurs taken by snares and then " fattened for the market." But nothing beyond
a vague tradition would appear to sur^ave of this tribe, as weU as of the ancient
Va-Zimba Negroes, who were said to be the true aborigines of Madagascar, and who
would seem to have been unacquainted even with the use of fire. Who were
these Va-Zimbas, whose very name suggests their Bantu origin ? A small tribe
south of Majimga in the Sakalava territory is still known by the same designa-
tion, and may possibly belong to the same race. This at least is rendered probable
by the fact that they are regarded as having a sort of pre-eminent right to the
land, and that on their journeys they are entitled to help themselves without pay-
ment to the produce of the soil, as if they were envoys of the sovereign.

The Ya-Zimbas may perhaps be kinsmen of the Ba-Simba or Cimbeba people
on the west coast of Africa, about the Cunene basin. Their graves, stones heaped
up like cairns or else disposed in circles, are scattered over various districts of the
central plateau, and are approached by the present Malagasy inhabitants with fear

• Racourt, Sistoire de Madagascar,

448 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

and trembling. Here sacrifices are even occasionally offered in order to conjure
the evil spirits hovering about these ill-omened sites.

Social Condition.

In a countrj' like Madagascar, which is passing through a period of rapid trans-
formation, and almost of revolution, the social condition necessarily presents the
greatest discrepancies, according as the various tribes and castes take part in or
stiU hold aloof from the onward national movement. The influence of the whites
is predominant in the high places, and amongst a large number of tribal communi-
ties the leading families boast of their descent from Europeans, just as their pre-
decessors plumed themselves on their Arab blood. Like the JajJancse — and herein
may be noticed another point of resemblance between the two races — they have
plunged with a sort of frenzy into the broad stream of European culture. Dress,
ornaments, furniture, style of dwellings, ceremonies, military parades, polite
phraseology, religions themselves : all has been eagerly adopted from their English
or French visitors, and the work of assimilation thus gradually spreads in ever
widening circles from the capital to the remotest extremities of the colony.

Even during the interval of reaction, when all foreigners were expelled, the
movement still continued, and those who were temporarily banished from Tananarive
were surprised on their return after the war to find a large increase in the number
of buildings constructed in the European style of architecture. At present the
whites, whether oiBcials, traders, or missionaries, freelj' traverse the island from
end to end, and hundreds, especially of the dealers from Mauritius and Reunion,
are everywhere hospitably welcomed by the inhabitants of the seaboard and central
plateaux.

Under all these influences schools have been multiplied in the towns and villages.
The Hova language, henceforth fixed by the adoption of the Roman writing system,
has become a literary tongue, and possesses a yearly increasing number of printed
books and periodicals.* English, French, and Portuguese terms are freely bor-
rowed, although in a greatly modified form to suit the phonetic system and structure
of the national speech. Christianity, represented by four different Protestant sects
and the Roman Catholic form, had been the State religion since the year 1869,
and the Queen bore the title of " Head of the Assembly of Believers."

Madagascar has also its learned societies. Radama II., who on ascending the
throne in 1861, began by declaring in a great kahari, or national council, that
henceforth all the whites " formed part of his family," had even the intention of
founding an Academy of Sciences. He fancied, like so many other sovereigns,
that he could thus create genius.

But beyond the influence of the ruling class the peoples of the more secluded

* The Antananarivo Annual and Madagascar Magazine, a learned, scientific, and literary publication,
has regularly appeared for many years in the capital. It is written in English, chiefly by the members
of the London Missionary Society, but entirely set up and printed by native craftsmen, on whose skill
and intelligence it reflects much credit. The first number was issued in 1875 under the editorship of the
Eev. James Sibree, by whom our knowledge of the islaud and its inhabitants has been greatly enlarged.
— Editoe.

MALAGASY CUSTOMS. 449

districts of the empire have still partly preserved the primitive usages and customs
inherited from their Malay or Bantu ancestors, as well as the religious rites and
ceremonies of the olden times. The Malagasy who have not yet adopted in part
or altogether the European dress, or the long white cotton robes introduced by
the missionaries, wear nothing but the lamba, a sort of skirt which amongst the
populations of the interior is made of bast pounded with the hammer.

Malagasy Customs.

The natives of many districts also still tattoo the face or raise scars or welts on
the body, like their African or Polynesian ancestors, or dress the hair with clay
and grease, like most of the tribes along the Upper Congo. Thus the Baras fashion
the hair in the form of a great ball by means of wax and fat kneaded into a sort of
yellowish pigment. The dwellings of the uncivilised natives are merelj- wretched
hovels made of beaten earth, reeds, and the foliage of the ravenala plant. Amongst
some communities firearms are still unknown, the warriors using vothing but
their primitive spears, bows and arrows, or else the still more primitive blow-
pipe.

The rite of circumcision is universally practised amongst all the populations
not yet converted to Christianity. In the Sakalava communities the operation is
performed at the age of six or seven, after which the victim is henceforth consi-
dered as a man. On this occasion he fires his first shot, and is also knocked about
and well shaken by the assistants, to give him a forecast of the arduous life-
struggles for which he must now prepare himself. In general the Malagasy
children enjoy a considerable degree of freedom, and in most of the tribes the
young men and women are allowed to contract temporary unions without exposing
themselves to censure. They come together on trial before making up their
minds to a pefmanent alliance.

Until he is married the Malagasy remains a minor, incapable of inheriting
propertj'. The marriage itself usually takes the form of a purchase, and, as in so
many other countries, is accompanied by a show of abduction. In some districts
the purchaser is not allowed to carry off his prize until he has gallantly fought
for her, and made a sufficient display of tact and bravery against the young men
of the neighbourhood. Amongst the Sakalavas the alliance cannot be settled by
the parents without the consent of their children ; but they always take prece-
dence at the wedding feast. At this festive gathering bride and bridegroom eat
out of the same dish, after which they dip their finger in a vessel containing the
blood of an ox slaughtered in honour of the occasion, and then smear the breast of
the guests with the blood.

The Sakalava unions are as a rule much respected, and divorces, euphemistically
called " thanksffivings," are of rare occurrence. Cases are also said to be common
enough of the survivor committing suicide through grief at the death of his or
her companion in life. But amongst the Mahafali, the women are on the contrary
universally regarded as inferior beings, bound to serve man in all things ami

AFRICA IV g q

450 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

enjoying no personal rights of any sort. They are not even allowed to eat with
him, or to be present at his meals. ^Vhen ill thej* must keep carefiJly secluded,
and after death the remains of the wife are never deposited in the sacred place
reserved for her husband. The adulteress is often put to death, even by her own
kinsfolk, while amongst the Sihanakas the widow is subjected to real tortures.
Clothed in her most sumptuous robe and decked in all her finery, the wi-etched
woman awaits in the mortuary house the return of the solemn funeral procession.
After the ceremony, friends and relatives fall upon her, tearing off her jewels,
rending her garments, imbinding her hair, hurling at her some broken vessel and
damaged or soiled clothes, and the like, all the time heaping curses on her as the
cause of the calamity. She is forbidden to utter a word ; all are free to buffet or
beat her at pleasure, and this period of " mourning " lasts for months, occasionally
even for a whole year. It ends with a formal divorce pronounced by the relatives
of the dead, in order to sever all ties with the remains of her departed husband.

The brotherhood of blood, known by diverse names amongst the several tribes,
is a custom still commonly observed all over the island, and most European
travellers have by this means acquired several " brothers," who have aided them
in the work of exploration. The two friends inflict a slight wound on each other
and mix the blood flowing from the cut. But amongst the Ant' Anossi, the
practice is to prepare a drink with the blood of an ox mingled with some " holy
water," in which are thrown divers articles, such ' as a leaden bullet and a gold
bracelet.

Trials by ordeal also still survive in the unreduced parts of the countrj', and
till recently these "judgments of God" were nowhere more terrible in their
effect than amongst the Hovas. The yearly victims of the procedure were reckoned
by the thousand. The most usual trial is that of boiling water, into which the
accused are compelled to plunge their hand. Sometimes a bar of red-hot iron is
placed on the victim's tongue ; or else he is made to drink the jHison prepared
from the fruit of the tanghin {Tnnghiuifi venenifera), or perhaps he is compelled to
swim across some crocodile-infested stream. In this case the wizard strikes the
water thrice, and then addresses the terrible saurians in solemn language : " It is
for you, 0 crocodiles, to decide whether this man be guilty or innocent ! "

The liliu (Iraza, that is, the common law or custom, as it is called by the Saka-
lavas, is everywhere scrupulously observed in the provinces not yet subjected to
the French Government. This law is very severe, especially where it rests on no
moral sanction beyond the mere fear of the unknown. The Sakalava code include.s
as many things said to be fadi, or forbidden, as there are tahooed according to
Polynesian usage. All Sakalavas are forbidden to sleep with the head turned in
the direction of the south, to lie on the wrong side of a mat, to sweep the house
on the north side, to peel a banana with the teeth, to eat eels or a cock, to leave
a mirror in the hands of a child, to spit in the fire, and to do a thousand other
things which to those not swayed by the fear of wizards or evil spirits must seem
perfectly indifferent acts.

Each tribe, each clan, each family has its special "fad," which must be

» MALAGASY CUSTOMS. 451

attended to under peril of some dire misliap. Such and such places are unlucky,
and must be carefully avoided by everybody. Such and such dates are similarly
declared to be unpropitious, and on those days all work must be stopped, all under-
takings postponed. Xo one would dare to start on any adventure without first
calling in the magicians to consult the fates by the game of hazard known as
siki/i, which Grandidier beheves to have been introduced by the persecuted Jews,
refugees from Arabia. " The day of the month is a lottery," says a Malagasy
proverb ; and there are certain terrible days in the Ant' Anossi and Ant' Anala
community when the new-born babe must be delivered to the crocodiles or buried
alive. In order to enlarge his colonj- the adventurer Beniovski made the people
surrender to him all those who were doomed by their supposed destiny to some
misfortune. Amongst the Vezo branch of the Sakalavas the families, while out-
wardly observing the custom, come to a mutual understanding to save their off-
spring from its consequences. The little victims are duly taken to the woods, but
no sooner are they deposited on the ground than some kinsman steps forward to
rescue them from certain death. ,

Recourse is frequently had to sacrifices in order to propitiate the evil spirits.
All the manifestations of nature, such as thimder, rain, and the winds, are personi-
fied by minor genii, children of Zanahar-be, a superior being who cannot be
directly invoked, so far is he removed above mortals. The hills, the rocks, and great
trees are also venerated spirits, and certain gigantic baobabs or tamarinds, towering
high above the plain, are covered with scraps of cloth, adorned with animals'
heads, or coated with coloured clays, attesting the veneration and homage of the
faithful.

But the evil spirits, stiU more numerous than the beneficent genii, hover in the
air, ever whirling round and round in search of their A-ictims. They it is that
kindle the conflagration, destroy the crops, sweep away man and beast.

" The ox hath therefore stretched his yoke in rain,
The ploughman lost his sweat, and the green com
Hath rotted ere his youth attained a beard ;
The fold stands empty in the dro-mied field,
And crows are fatted with the murrain flock."

Hence, when he builds himself a dwelHng or sows his field, the peasant, sur-
rounded by aU his family, invokes one by one the genii of his kinsfolk, imploring
them to scare away their invisible foes. Against these adversaries song is the
most potent weapon. To heal the ailing the women and young girls gather round
their couch, singing and dancing and beating their hands at dawn and sunset.
But should the spell fail and the patient die, it is because the demons have tri-
umphed. Forthwith everything must be cleansed, and the very abode of the dead
is left to the evil ones. The Ant' Anossi forsake the land itself, while most
of the Sakalava tribes endeavour at least to bafile the fiends by changing their
name. They thus hope that all trace of their wanderings may be lost. Amongst
the Sakalavas it is also usual to hide away the sick in the woodlands, not more
than two or three persons being in the secret of their whereabouts. If they thus
succeed in concealing the sufferer from the demons he is sure to recover.

452 SOUTH AND EAST AI'EICA.

Slavery.

Notwithstanding the introduction of foreign capital, agriculture could scarcely
make muf-h progress so long as the soil continued to be cultivated by slave labour.
Doubtless by concentrating all available hands on the development of colonial
produce to the neglect of alimentary plants, certain great planters might produce a
deceptive show of agricultural prosperity. But these were precisely the conditions
under which the bulk of the population suffered most grievously. The large land-
owners on the east side of the island were all ardent champions of slavery, on the plea
that the landed interests of the country would thus be best furthered. The fir.-t
settlers at Fort Dauphin already began by selling the men captured from their
own allies; then, during the two subsequent centuries, Madagascar became a grent
depot where the slave-dealers came to procure servile labour for the plantations in
the Mascarcnhas Archipelago, on the African coastlands, in Arabia, and Egypt.
On the other hand, the Makuas, or Mojambikas, names collectively given to the
slaves brought from Africa itself, were landed in thousands on the Sakalava coast.
By the French planters in Mauritius these were commonly called " Marmites,"
from the native word Maromita, that is " forders," in allusion to their passage
from the mainland across the Mozambique Channel to the west side of Madagascar.

Since the year 1877 the importation of Negroes had been rigorously suppressed.
But in the great island itself slavery still existed, and the servile class was estimated
at no less than two-thirds of the whole population, before effective steps were taken
by the French for their emancipation. The tribes formerly conquered by the
Hovas were also regarded by their political masters as mere gangs of slaves, and
were constantly subjected to forced or statute labour (" corvee ").

It is much to be regretted that, although slavery is no longer legally
recognised, the French administration still maintains this sj'stem of forced labour,
at least in the public service. All the natives between 16 and 60 j'ears of age
are everywhere required to give fifty daj's of unrequited service annually to the
State. The system, adopted on the pretext that the natives are unable to pay
taxes, has, however, the advantage of considerably reducing the expenditure of
the administration on road-making and the other public works urgently needed
for the development of the country.

M.'VTERi.A.L Progress.

But notwithstanding all these drawbacks, Madagascar still remains an agricul-
tural region of great value, as the chief source whence the neighbouring Masca-
rcnhas group draws its supply of provisions. Eice is by far the most important
cultivated plant, and although the portion of the soil under tillage cannot be esti-
mated at a hundredth part of the total area, the annual crop, after amply supplying
the local demand, contributes a considerable item to the export trade of the country.
In some remote provinces, and especially amongst the Ant' Anala people, the

PR0GBE3S OF M.-\X)AGASCAE. 453

cultivated tracts are regularly displaced every year. The herbage and brushwood
of some favourable spot are cleared by fire ; then in the rainy season the ploughed
ground is sown, and the harvest gathered in due course. Next j'ear this temporary
camping- groxmd is abandoned, and the same rude system of clearance repeated in
3ome neighbouring: district.

Eound about Tananarivo the irrigated lands laid out as rice-fields are prepared
with great care, and never sown until first well manured. Besides rice, the Mala-
gasy cultivate most of the alimentary plants of the tropical and sub-tropical
regions, such as manioc, sweet potatoes, yams, ground-nuts, and saonio, which is
the same vegetable {arum cscuhntitni) that, under the name of taro, is so widely
diffused throughout the Oceanic world. The Europeans have also introduced into
the central plateaux the cereals, fruits, and vegetables of the northern hemisphere.
The tea shrub has made its appearance on the uplands of Imerina, and for some
years planters on the seaboard have turned their attention to the cultivation of
cotton, coffee, cacao, vanilla, and sugar.

The central plateaux of Madagascar, being destitute of forests' and mostly
covered Tvith herbage, are amongst the regions best suited for stock-breeding.
There are two species of oxen, the South African, and the zebu, or Indian buffalo,
introduced from the East at some unknown epoch, and now numbering many
hundred thousands, if not over a milHon head. The ox is the most attached
companion of the Sakalava ; no ceremony takes place from which he is excluded, no
legend is related in which he does not play his part. The Malagasy sheep belongs
to the fat-tailed fleecy variety. But nearly all the European live-stock thrives
equally well on the Madagascar plains, except the horse, which for some unknown
reason frequently perishes. The hardy equine breed introduced from Burmah
succeeds best. The pig, formerly loathed as an impure animal, is gradually
spreading over the whole of the Hova territory, but has not yet penetrated into the
Sakalava country, where the people are still slightly affected by Mohammedan
influences.

All the European farmj-ard poultry have already become thoroughly accli-
matised amongst the Hovas. Some rising agricultural establishments have begun
to cultivate the Chinese variety of the silkworm, which is fed, as in Europe, on
the mulberry-leaf. Some of the indigenous species also peld a stout silken
thread.

Under the influence of their European teachers, the Malagasy have already
greatly modified the national industries, as shown by the dress of the people and
the style of their domestic architecture. Nevertheless, most of the local crafts
are stiU maintained on the old primitive lines. The native weavers make stout
silken fabrics of bright colours, as well as cotton and linen stuffs which are used
for the national costume. The fibre of the raphia • palm is also employed in the
preparation of garments, hats and sails. The mats exported from Madagascar,
and woven of raphia, papyrus, or other kinds of reeds, are highly esteemed for
their strength, durability, and brilliant colours.

The various factories established by Laborde and encouraged by Radama II.,

454 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

were all destroyed during the subsequent civil disorders, and the country lacks
suflBcient internal resources to replace them. The mineral deposits, which are
described by the natives as very rich, but which have hitherto been only some-
what superficiallj' surveyed by Europeans, have not yet acquired any economic
importance, mining operations having long been severely suppressed by the Hova
Government.

Guillermin's researches have shown that Madagascar possesses a coal basin '
lying on the north-west coast over against Nossi-Be, and very rich, especially in
the Ambodimadiro district on the shores of Passandava Bay. But accurate details
are still lacking on the actual extent of this basin, on its probable contents aad
the facilities for working it to advantage. The sands of the Ikopa River are
auriferous, and copper, lead, sulphur, graphite, and lignite are also known to
exist.

The Hova Government watched jealously over the commercial interests of
the countrj-, maintaining an effective system of custom-houses at all important
stations round the coast, and even in the districts occupied by still independent
populations. An impost of from 8 to 10 per cent, was levied on all articles of the
import and export trade, with the exception of books, stationery, and school furni-
ture, which were admitted freely. A large part of the traffic, especially on the east
coast, is carried on with Mauritius and Reunion, which islands require cattle, rice,
maize, and provisions of all sorts for the hands employed on the plantations.

The direct trade with Europe is concentrated in the hands of a few wholesale
dealers, who introduce woven goods, draperies, hardware, rifles, and other arms,
taking in return hides, suet, wax, caoutchouc, copal, which they obtain from the
agents stationed in all the seaports round the coast and in the large villages of the
interior. The United States also takes a large share in the foreign commerce of
the island, which was estimated at about £780,000 in 1898. The,French five-
franc piece, which here takes the name of " dollar," is the only legal coin. It
is cut into small fractions, which have to be carefully weighed, so that dealers
always carry their scales with them. Italian and Belgian coins of equal value
are now also current.

The development of commerce is much obstructed by the bad or deficient com-
munications between the elevated plateaux and the seaports on the coast. But a
waggon road is now being made from Tamatave on the east coast to the capital ;
and the canalisation of the lagoons between the same points has also been begun.
In 1898 negotiations were opened for the construction of a railway in connection
with these works. The French company, which has undertaken to construct the
line, will receive concessions of lands, mining rights, and other extensive privileges.
But meanwhile the capital is still connected only by rough tracks with Majunga,
the chief seaport on the west side of the island.

At present all merchandise is forwarded from Tananarive to Tamatave and
Majunga by means of Betsimisaraka and other porters, whose loads weigh on an
average from a hundred to a hundred and ten pounds. But the transport charges
increase enormously in the case of bulky objects, which cannot be reduced to con-

PEOGEESS OF MADAGASCAE. 455

venient size or weight. As a rule, a carrier takes about ten days to cover tlie dis-
tance of two hundred miles between the capital and Tamatave, and receiveo for
this journey from twelve to twenty shillings.

Postal communication has already been established throughout the island, and
telegraph lines connect the capital both with Tamatave and with Majunga. By
a cable laid in 1895 Majunga communicates with the rest of the world, and
Tamatave is visited regularly by the steamers of several shipping companies.
Lines of steamers, corresponding with Mauritius and Eeunion, touch at all the
chief seaports on the coast.

Topography.

The capital of the late Hova kingdom, which under the French nde has become
the metropolis of the whole island, had even under native rule grown to a large
city, thanks partly to its central position for trade, partly to the centralising
tendencies of the Government concentrating in one place large numbers of officials,
courtiers, troops, and slaves. Tananarivo, or Antananarivo — that is^ Ant' Ana-
narivo, or " Here the Thousand Villages " — consists in fact of a considerable number
of villages and hamlets grouped together within a comparatively small area.

The population had already increased from ten or twelve thousand in 1820, to
double that nimiber in 1840, and according to the partial statistics prepared bj'
the French officials, the population, including the suburbs, was estimated at
about 100,000 in 1898. Within the limits of the city are comprised over twenty
thousand structures of all sorts, the houses being generally so small that every
wealthy famil}- occupies several.

The original site of Tananarivo crowned the summit of a hill 4,800 feet above
sea-level, which stretches north and south at a height of about 500 feet above
the valley of the Ikopa. From this eminence the eye commands an extensive
prospect of tiie river winding away to the west, and of a vast extent of gardens,
rice-fields, and villages, dotted over the rolling plains. From the copious springs
in the neighbourhood the inhabitants derive an abundant supply of good water.

The crest of the hiU, on which stands the royal palace, terminates westwards in
a precipitous bluff, which has been called the " Tarpeian Rock " of Tananarivo.
From its summit were hurled all those who had the misfortune to incur the wrath
of the sovereign. On the west side the slopes are too steep to afford space for the
erection of many structures ; hence the dwellings are chiefly grouped on the gentler
incline of the eastern side of the hill, where all are disposed on artificially levelled
tei'races, rising tier above tier. Stone and brick are gradually replacing wood as
the building materials of the houses, which are generally surmounted by lightning
conductors. They all face westwards, either as a protection against the cold winds
which set from the south-east, or more probably in virtue of some mythical tradi-
tions. But they are not disposed in regular lines of streets or buUt on any par-
ticular plan. Nevertheless, the city is divided into a number of unequal quarters
by a few avenues or thoroughfares, the largest of which, paved with granite flags,
was the via sacra of the royal family.

456

SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

Farther on the boulevard descends into Ihe now town which has sprung up to
the north of the ancient city. Beyond this quarter it str etches away between the
rice-fields for some twelve miles across the plain to the town of Amhohimanga, one
of the " twelve holy cities," and the most venerated of all. Ambohimanga stands
on an isolated gneiss eminence which is shaded by large trees, and at the foot of

Fig. 138.— Tananaetvo ant) Esvieoxs.

Scale 1 : 200.0nii.

Cast CF Greenwic>i '47°S7-

AS'z'

- 6 miles.

which rise some much-frequented thermal springs. Europeans seldom received
permission to penetrate into this city, cradle of the forefathers of the late
dynast}' and summer residence of the roj-al princes. Here the court took up its
abode every year for a short period, during which all affairs of state had to be
suspended, the whole time being devoted to feasts, sacrifices, and supplications to
the deities.

TOPOGEAPHT OF MADAGASCAE. 457

But besides this " Versailles " of royalty, Tananarivo possesses several other
public pleasure-grounds, picturesque villages, lakes, and country seats, surrounded
by parks and gardens. At the very gates of the city the waters of the Ikopa are
dammed up so as to form a lake encircling an islet which is laid out as a pleasant
resort for the public. The river is here confined between strong embankments
which prevent it from overflowing, and which have been attributed to one of the
first sovereigns of the Hova dynasty.

A carriage road, eighteen or twenty miles long, leads from Tananarivo to Man-
tassa, the group of industrial establishments founded by Laborde to the south-east
of the capital. Before their destruction these factories turned out all manner of
wares — woven goods, hardware, tiles, porcelain, sugar, soap, arms, guns, ammuni-
tion, and even electric conductors. The workshops were surrounded by an exten-
sive garden of acclimatisation.

On the central plateau stands another city bearing the name of " capital." This
is FianaranUoa, the chief town of the Betsileo nation, nearly 180 mile.s due
south of Tananarivo, and 4,300 feet above sea-level. It stands on^ a loftj' hiU
on the western slope of the island, and in the district where rise the farthest
headstreams of the Mangoka river. In rank, if not in the number of its
inhabitants, Fianarantsoa is reckoned as the second citj' of the realm, and has been
selected by the English missionaries as the centre of their operations for all the
southern provinces of Madagascar. The little traffic carried on between this place
and the sea is all directed towards the east coast, which is three times nearer than
the opposite side, but of more difficult access, owing to the rugged character of the
highlands and the impetuosity of the mountain torrents.

The chief station occupied by the Hovas in the Ant' Anala territory bears the
same name as the holy city of the dominant race. But the fertile region roimd
about this southern Ambohimanga was completely conquered by the French in
1898. The king of the Bara nation, who had his residence on the natural strong-
hold of Mount Ivohibe, had always refused even to receive the Hova envoys.

The southern harbours on the east coast facing the solitary waters of the Indian
Ocean are but little frequented. The produce of this region available for export
is not of sufficient value to induce skippers to venture amid the dangerous reefs
of the southern waters. Fort Dauphin, which has resumed its old Malagasy name
of Faradifai, is now nothing more than a military station at the south-eastern
extremity of the island.

Going northwards along the same seaboard, the traveller meets at long intervals
a number of other little posts, all dating from the Hova period. Such are Amhahi,
or Farafanga, in the Ant' Aimoro territory ; Amhohipeno, at the mouth of the
Jlatitanana river, within the northern frontier of the same country ; Masindrano,
or Tsiatosild, on another coast stream flowing from the Betsileo plateau ; Jla/ia)ioro,
a Betsimisaraka town, on a headland which commands an estuary near the mouth
of the Onibe, the most copious river on the east side of the island ; Vatomaiidri,
which during the blockade of Tamatave had become the port of entry for goods
destined for the capital.

468

SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA

Andovoranto, or the " Slave Market," former capital of the Bctsimisaraka
kiugdoni, stands on a tongue of sand amid a labyrinth of coast lagoons. Its
position is the most important of any on this seaboard, being the point which

Fig. 139.— Tamatave.
SKile 1 : 45,0iX).

I8'

_._

^W^-v^

. ' A; ^- ■>-

^^-m^'

-,i'. <

/ — ~-^^=^=

=--fe^^— .-^■.'. ! ■'

f;;; , :;^^^^^-,^^

=^^^^^L=^"

■-' rir=^r^ -=^;r

^^s|^;v^;;-^ .>

— T^^^S-z^^^^

^--=^ ■

\-jC^

49' P6

Depths.

OtolS
Feet.

16 to 32
Feet.

32 to 64
Feet.

64 Feet and
upwards.

1,11)0 Yards.

lies nearest to the capital. Hence travellers boimd for Tananarivo follow the
coast from Tamatave to Andovoranto, and then strike inland from a neighbouring
estuary, whence they soon reach the escarpments of the central plateau. This
would consequently be an excellent site for a great commercial or naval station,
but for the dangerous character of the neigbbouring coastlands and the difficult

TOPOGRAPHY OF MADAGASCAR.

459

approaches, wliicli render it qxiite inaccessible to vessels of heavy draught. Yet
a few Creole traders have already settled at Andovoranto, defying the pestiferous
atmosphere of the surrounding svramps and stagnant waters.

Farther north follows a succession of sugar-cane plantations and cocoa-nut
groves ; but all attempts have been given up to cultivate the cofEee shrub, which
has been attacked and destroyed by hemileia rasfafn'x. Near the route leading
from Andovoranto to Tananarivo is situated a far-famed and still much-frequented

Fig. 140. — DrEoo Suarez Bat.
Scale 1 : 500.0W1.

LasfcoF. breenwich

'ig'So

Depths.

0to32
Feet.

12 Miles.

thermal spring, where the Hovas formerly assembled to perform sanguinary
rites.

Taniafave, or Toamasina, the St. Thomas of the early Portuguese navigators,
although 60 miles farther from the capital than Andovoranto, is the busiest
seaport in the whole of Madagascar. At this spot the coast develops a narrow
promontory projecting eastwards and terminating in a coral reef which forms the
parting-line between a northern and a southern bay. The former is further
sheltered from the surf and breakers by another barrier reef, which stretches for

460 SOUTH AXL) EAST .IFKICA.

several miles seawards to a wooded islet known as the " Isle of Pluins." The
larjjest vessels find commodious anchorage in the Tamatave roadstead, which can
be easilj' reached without crossing any dangerous surf-beaten bars.

The town itself is a small place consisting of depots, warehouses, cabins, and
hovels inhabited by Betsimisarakas, blacks of various origin, and Creoles from the
Mascarenhas. These dwellings arc embowered in orange, lemon, mango, and
cocoanut groves, while towards the west the " battery " and Ilova village are<
masked by a curtain of tall trees. Formerly Tamatave was one of those " graves
of Europeans " which are so frequently met in tropical regions, liut the local
climate has been considerably improved by the draining of some neighbouring
marshes, which are now also planted with the fever-dispelling eucalyptus.
Tamatave is the chief outlet for the cattle, rice, and other provisions intended
for the Mascarenhas Islands, and for the hides and caoutchouc exported to Europe.
The total exchanges average about £430,000,

North of Tamata\e the nearest station is the little-frequented seaport of
Fonlepointe. ' Mahavelo, its native name, means " Much Health," but although
salubrious enough for its Betsimisaraka inhabitants, the climate is nearly always
fatal to Europeans. Farther north follows the port of Fencri/e, or Fciioan'ro,
where vessels come chiefly to take in cargoes of rice. Fenerife is the natural
outlet for the produce of the fertile Sihanaka territory and the Maningori valley.

Towards the north-east stretches the long and narrow French island of St.
Manj, the Nom Boraha of the natives, which in 1898 had a population of 9,000.
The early French writers also give it the name of Nohhi Ihnilnm, that is,
Abraham's Island, and speak of a Jewish colony settled here. Nevertheless,
there is nothing Semitic either in the carriage or the features of its present
Betsimisaraka inhabitants, who are noted for their fine physical appearance.
With its southern dependency, the islet of Nattes, St. Mary is 30 miles long
from south-east to north-west, but so narrow that the whole area scarcely exceeds
60 square miles. Not more than one-fifth of this space is under cultivation, the
chief products being cloves and vanilla. Over fifty thousand palms fringe the
coast, on the west side of which stands the port, well-sheltered by the islet of
Madame.

Tinthigue (Teng-Tencj) and the other post on this coast lately abandoned by the
French have been re-occupied, while the older French town of Loiiishoiirij, founded
by the adventurer Beniovski, has been replaced by a Malagas}- fort near Maroaiii-
setra. This is the chief outlet for the caoutchouc of Madagascar, which is
yielded by a vahea or liana different from that of the East African species.

On the north-east seaboard occur several ports, such as Aiif/ofsi, or Ngotsi,
with a safe harbour and in a district yielding the best rice in the whole island ;
Vohemar, like Angotsi protected by an islet, which forms an excellent port doing
a brisk trade in live-stock and other provisions for the Mascarenhas ; Luqiiez
(Lokia), occupied by the EngHsh for a short time after the Napoleonic wars ;
lastly, at the northern extremity of Madagascar, the great inlet of Aiifomboka, or
Diego Siiarez, one of those numerous landlocked basins which, like Rio de Janeiro,

m
o
z

a
■<
>j
■J

TOPOaEAPHY OF MADAGASCAE.

461

Port Jackson, or Queenstown, are described as " the finest harbour in the
world."

By the treaty of 1885, this inlet was ceded to France, which has made it a
harbour of refuge and a victualling station for its navy. The whole basin, about
two miles broad, is divided by the islet of Kossi Volane into two secondary
harbours, approached by a channel from 20 to 25 fathoms deep and ramifj'ing in
all directions for many miles inland. The south-western branch is no less than

Fig. 141.— Nossi Be.
Scale I : 550,000.

Oto32
Feet.

Deptlis.

32 to 80

Feet.

80 Feet and
upwards.

12 MUes.

27 miles long, and most of these creeks are deep and thoroughly sheltered. On
the south side, near the village of Antsinana, stand the French esiablishments,
completed by groups of native hovels. Before the conquest of the whole island
this was the capital of the French province of Madagascar, which also included
the two islands of St. Man/ and Nossi Be : and although it may never develop a
large local trade, it occupies a magnificent strategic position, commanding at once
both sides of the great island, as well as the Comoro and Mascarenhas groups. In
1888 steps were taken to found a health resort on one of the crests of Amber Cape,

4G2 SOUTH AND EAST AFBICA. ,

3,780 feet above the level of the sea, at the extremity of the peninsula projectinf^
north from Diego Suarez Bay.

On the deeply indented north-west coast, the most frequented port lies on
the volcanic island of Nossi Be, which has been occupied by a French garrison
since 1841. Larger and more fertile than St. Mary, but now completely treeless.
Nossi Be was occupied by the French on account of the magnificent and perfectly
sheltered roadstead at the south side, where it is protected on the east by the
regular cone of Nossi Komba, on the south-east by the Malagasj- peninsula of
Anfiki, on the west by a group of barrier reefs. The space thus enclosed affords
room for the evolutions of hundreds of war-ships. On the north side stands
Hellville, the capital, a picturesque little place, which unfortunately suffers from
the vicinity of some malarious swamps. On the east side lies Antonoro, an older
settlement, inhabited chiefly by half-caste Malagasies, crossed with Arabs and
Comora Islanders. The whites, mostly from the Mascarenhas, are chiefly engaged
in superintending the sugar, clove, and vanilla plantations, on which were formerly
employed Makua slaves from the African mainland.

The other inhabitants of Nossi Be arc Malagasies, namely, Sakalavas and
Betsimisarakas, and the whole population, including the neighbouring islets, has
varied from six thousand to sixteen thousand, according to the vicissitudes of wars
and revolutions. The local trade, being free from custom-house dues, is relatively
considerable, averaging from £-'350,()00 to £380,000 annually. Nossi Be was
separated in 1897 from Diego Suarez, and constituted an independent province
with the adjacent islets of Sakatia, Nossi Komla, Nossi Fali, Nossi Mitsio, and
part of the opposite mainland. The extinct craters to the north-west of Hellville
are flooded with lakelets inhabited by voracious crocodiles.

South of Nossi Be the busj' market of Ambodimadiro occupies the southern
extremity of the deep inlet of Passandava, near the point where the Bavofahi
coal mines were opened in the eighties. Farther south follow dcher deep and
well-sheltered bays, the most frequented of which is the spacious inlet of Bo)n-
bctok [Ampombitokana), at the entrance of which stands the important seaport of
Mojanga {Majunga Madsanga, or " Health Restorer "). The trade of this place
is scarcely inferior to that of Tamatave on the east coast, and although it lies at
a greater distance from the capital it has the advantage of being situated in
the same basin of the river Ikopa, which is navigable for steamers beyond the
Betsiboka confluence, and much higher up for canoes. Before 1823, when it was
still the capital of an independent Sakalava kingdom, Mojanga was a much larger
place than at present, with a population of at least ten thousand, including many
Arab traders. In 1898 it had scarcely 6,000 inhabitants.

Farther up on the banks of the Ikopa stands the flourishing town of Marovoai
(" CrocodileviUe "), which was also formerly capital of a Sakalava state. Above
the Betsiboka confluence lies the \411age of Mavatanana, in an auriferous alluvial
district, which was already worked in the Hova period.

Beyond Mojanga follow several other havens and inlets, which, however, are
rarely visited by skippers. Here the natural division between the two sections

TOPOGKAPHY OF MADAGASCAE.

4G3

of the eastern seaboard is indicated by the bold headland of Cape St. Andrew,
beyond which stretches the little-known district of Menabe, fringed by coral reefs
and desert islets. The south-west coast, although less provided with good
harbours than that of the north-west, has nevertheless some frequented seaports.
The most important is Tullear {Tolia or Ankatsaoka), on a fine spacious and
well- sheltered haven some 12 miles north of the mouth of the Saint Augustine
river. The surrounding district, which is remarkably healthy and fertile, yields
for export cereals, cattle, wax, and dye-woods ; and nearly all the orchilla used in

Fig. l-t'J. — Noeth-West Coast or Madagascae.
Scale 1 : 4,500.(100.

East cp Greenwich 46*

OtoSO
Feet.

Depths.

SO to 320
Feet.

320 Feet and
upwards.

. 60 Miles.

France comes from this place. Since 1885 a French resident has been stationed
at Nom Be, a small island on the south side of the estuary of the St. Augustine,
regularly visited by traders from the Mascarenhas Archipelago.

HovA .\ND French ADjnNisTR.\TioN.

The Hova Government was practically an absolute despotism, tempered by revolu-
tions of the palace, and disguised by some constitutional fictions. The sovereign was
master, and to him belonged the lives, fortunes, and substance of all his subjects.

404 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. •

Before the general acceptance of Christianity, he bore the title of " Visible God,"
but was later content to claim supreme power " by the grace of God and the will
of the people." Formerly he was the high priest of the nation, offered yearly
sacrifices to secure the happiness of his people, and in return received from them
the first-fniits of the soil. At his accession the courtiers took the " oath of the
calf " — that is, after sacrificing one of these animals, they swore by the swords
buried in its body that the same fate should overtake themselves whenever disloyj^l
to their sovereign. His name, his image, all objects touched by him, were equally
sacred ; he alone had a right to the red umbrella, and, as iu other Malay languages,
a special form of speech was reserved for the ruler. Terror preceded and followed
him, and the highest in the land obeyed in silence at sight of the " silver assegai,"
held up by an attendant. In pagan times officers doomed to death were invited to a
banquet, where, after the feast, they drank the poisoned cup with acclamations in
honour of the sender. Condemned nobles received an iron rod, with orders to
voluntarily impale themselves ; others were required to plunge into quagmires,
where they disappeared in the mud ; while some were burnt alive. But except in
the case of slaves and the lower orders, care was taken to shed no blood, as a
convincing proof of the royal clemency.

Being omnipotent in principle, the king or the queen, overflowing with the
" wisdom of the twelve kings " — that is, of all their ancestry — chose their own
successors. Nevertheless, they did not escape from the court intrigues, and latterly
the real authority resided in the Prime Minister, husband of the Queen, and a
sort of mayor of the palace. Other ministers were named by him, and all had
to obey his orders. Even the dignitaries assembled in the kabari, or " great
council," did little more than listen to the speech from the throne and signify their
approval. On grand occasions, when all the tribes with their chief s were assembled
according to the old feudal right, the minister addressed the multitude, which
never failed to give its assent to his propositions.

The andriaiia, or baronial class, being stationed nearest to the palace, and con-
sequently more easily controlled than others, enjoyed the least measure of freedom,
and could not even withdraw from the capital except on some special mission. But
the old divisions into nobles, citizens, and slaves had been gradually replaced by
the social classification according to " honours," which was at once civil and mili-
tary. The " first honour " was that of the simple soldier : but from this it was
possible to pass through all the intermediate grades up to the sixteenth, the
highest rank in the social system.

The trade in spirits had by several enactments been prohibited throughout
Imerina, and 4,500 officials had been appointed to enforce the royal decrees, to
keep the civil registers, and conduct the regular transfer of property. A penal
code, far less rigorous than the old " common law," had been proclaimed, and
thenceforth the sentence of death was rarely inflicted. The army of " a hundred
thousand men," although really comprising not more than thirty thousand, was
recruited by a sort of conscription, the men being disbanded after five years'
service.

ADMINISTRATION OF MADAGASCAR. 465

"With the exception of the school teachers, none of the Government officials, not

^ few y- ' f 1'*

even the district judges, received direct salaries. Hence they had to live on the

AFRICA IV. h h

466 SOUTU AND EAST AFRICA. •

revenue of the fiefs granted them by the liberality of the Government, or on the
perquisites derived from the exercise of their judicial functions. Such was the
consequent venality in the administration of justice, that all verdicts might be said
to be knocked down to the highest bidder. On being presented to the sovereign
all were expected to offer the hasina — that is, the tribute of vassalage, generally a
piece of gold or silver. His subjects were also held to personal service, and there-
fore liable to the fanompoana, or statute labour. ,

The produce of the tithes and poll-tax, as well as the customs dues, belonged
to the king, who was not required to account for their disposal. Latterly the
customs in the six chief seaports were held in security for a first loan of i'600,000
raised to pay off the indemnity claimed by France after the first war. But, for
the conversion of the balance of this loan, and for public works, another loan of
£1,200,000 was issued in 1897 under Government guarantee.

Before the French occupation a large number both of the Hovas and of the
other tribes in the central districts had already been evangelised. The great
majority of the congregations had been created by the London Missionary Society,
while Anglican, Norwegian, American, Lutheran, and Roman Catholic missions
were also at work ; and with these bodies were connected hospitals, colleges, and
nearly 2,000 schools, attended by about 170,000 children. For some years
Christianity had been the State religion, without any preference being shown to
any one sect over another. There was, however, a natural leaning towards
Protestantism, which claimed collectively as many as 450,000 adherents, whereas
the CathoUcs numbered only 50,000. But complaint is made that, since the
advent of the French, strenuous efforts have been made to diminish the influence
of the Protestant missions, and induce the natives to transfer their allegiance to
the Roman Church. Although religious freedom has been proclaimed, there
appears to be no doubt that, with the connivance of the French oflScials, the
Catholic propaganda is being pushed in such a way as almost to compel the native
Protestant communities to accept the ministrations of the Roman clergy. In some
places a system of terrorism prevails, against which it is hopeless to contend, so
that in the language of a Catholic priest, " in a few years all the heretics will be
swept into the fold."

Since the deposition of the Queen (February 27th, 1897), the administration
of the whole island has been entrusted to a Governor-General, who enjoys very
extensive powers. He is, however, somewhat controlled in the exercise of his
political functions by an Administrative Council, which has been established at
Tananarive, former and present capital of Madagascar.

III. — The Comoro Islands.

Lying midway between Madagascar and the African mainland, the Comoro
archipelago is equally separated from both by marine abysses some 500 fathoms
deep. It comprises four islands with a few islets disposed like satellites round

THE COMORO ISLANDS.

4G7

about, the whole forming an upheaved volcanic chain stretching about 150 miles
in the direction from south-east and north-west. The Comoros thus belong physi-
cally neither to Madagascar nor to Africa, but constitute a distinct group, with
partly original flora and fauna, and inhabitants also presenting some distinct
features. Here the primitive African and Malagasy elements have received their
culture, their language and social usages mainly from later Arab intruders.
» Politically the archipelago belongs to France, which occupied Mayotte in 1841,
and the rest of the islands so recently as 1886. Notwithstanding its small extent
the group is of considerable strategic importance, owing to its position in the

Fig. 1-14. — The Comobo Islands.

Scale 1 : 3.000,000.

0to640
•■ Feet.

Depths.

640 to 3,200
Feet.

3,200 to 6,400
Feet.

— ^ 60 Miles.

6,40" Feet and
upwards.

middle of the Mozambique Channel and on the west flank of Madagascar. It has
a total area of 800 square miles, with a population of 65,000 in 1898.

The agencies by which the islands have been raised to the surface appear to
have been much more energetic in the northern than the southern part of the
archipelago. Mayotte in the south-east has no summits exceeding 2,000 feet,
whereas Anjuan, which with Moheli occupies the centre, rises to a height of 4,000
feet, and the active volcano of Kartal or Karadalla (Jungu-ja-Dsaha, or " Kettle of
Fire " ), in the north-western island of Great Comoro, to 8,500 feet. This imposin»
mountain, with its blackish escarpments towering above the blue waters and
fringed with a green wreath of cocoanut palms, presents one of the grandest pic-

468 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

tures in the Indian Ocean. Occasionally a column of smoke shoots up from the
crater, a vawning chasm 500 feet deep and over a mile in circumference. In
1858 copious lava streams flowed down the western slopes of Kartal, encircling
like an island a ^'illage perched on an older eruptive rock. Several other cones,
some perfect, some breached, also produce a striking effect with their headlands
terminating in columnar basalt cliffs.

But besides the igneous rocks, there are also some granitic and sedimentar3'c
formations. In many places the beach, strewn with sandy or shingly lavas
mingled with ferruginous ores, is of a bright black and reddish colour, forming a
striking contra.st with the dazzling white of the neighbouring coral reefs. These
coraRine masses present great differences of form in the different islands, in Great
Comoro and Moheli lying close in-shore, while at Mayotte they are disposed in an
oval ring round the coast, with openings here and there giving access to shipping.
At a certain height above the present sea-level, are seen layers of sand and of shells
absolutely identical with those still inhabiting the surrounding waters, and
consequentU' attesting upheaval in relatively recent times.

The seasons are better regulated in the Comoros than in Madagascar, the
islands not being large enough greatly to modify the system of atmospheric
currents. The dry season, lasting uniformly from May to October, is not very
unhealthy for Europeans, thanks to the comparatively low temperattire, which
oscillates between 68° and 84° F. During this period the south-eastern trade-
winds prevail ; dailv, however, veering round with the sun to the south and south-
west. In October begins the wet and hot season, when the glass ranges from 77^
to 95° F. and when the north-west trades bring copious rains, causing a discharge
of 120 inches and upwards on the slopes of the mountains. At times the currents
from opposite quarters neutralise each other, producing either calms or cyclones,
which, however, are never so violent as in the Mascarenhas waters.

Despite the excessive rainfall caused by the north-western monsoon. Great
Comoro has not a single perennial stream, all the precipitated water disappearing
rapidly in the thick deposits of volcanic ashes and scoriae covering the surface.
In the other islands a few rivulets wind through the verdant valleys.

Such is the fertility of the volcanic soil that, before they were inhabited, the
islands were completely covered with a dense forest vegetation ; but at present
not more than one-sixth of the surface is clothed with large timber. A few forms
appear to be indigenous, but the greater part have been introduced either directly
by man (European vegetables), or by the marine currents and other natural
agencies. During the southern monsoon a local coimter-current occasionally
causes the upper waters to flow back, generally towards the south, and in this
way the seeds of many Malagasy plants have been brought to the archipelago.

From Madagascar also comes the greater part of the insular fauna. Most of
the species in the two regions are identical, or at least belong to the same genera.
Besides one species of lemur, the group possesses a bat (pieropm comorensis) which
ranges thence eastwards to Australia, but is absent from Africa. There is also a
species of black parrot allied to a form occurring in Malasia.

TKE COMORO ISLANDS. 469

The Comoro or Komr group, a name also at one time extended to Madagascar,
has been known to the Arab navigators at least since the tenth century, and was
also formerly visited by the Persians of Shiraz, who traded with Magdoshu and
Kiloa on the African seaboard. During the early days of Portuguese enterprise,
mariners from Lisbon called at Great Comoro. But the first permanent settlers,
mostly runaway slaves, came from Madagascar and East Africa, and even from
Arabia, forming in the archipelago a mongrel race, which presents all the transi-
tions from the almost pure Semite to the Malagasy and Bantu types. A few
Banyan traders have also been attracted from Bombay; but the bulk of the
population, collectively called Ant'Aloch, represents a mixture of diverse African,
Arab and Malagasy elements.

The Ant'Aloch islanders are mostly tall, with a yellowish complexion, thick but
not pouting lips, high but narrow brow. The hair, naturally crisp or kinky, is
usually shaven in the Mussulman fashion ; the women also blacken their teeth with
betel-chewiug, whUe many are tattooed and wear a metal button or flower on the
nostril in the Hindu style. At Mayotte, where the Malagasy element prevails, the
people are of darker colour, but in the other islands of more Semitic appearance. The
natives of Great Comoro are an exceptionally tall and stalwart race, and travellers
speak with admiration of these men, whose robust constitution and freedom from
disease are attributed both to their cleanly habits and to the salubrity of the climate.

The Ant'Aloches and dominant Mahorri, or "Moors," are all Mohammedans
of mixed descent, who endeavour in all things to conform to the usages and
institutions of their Arab teachers. The Sultans draw up their decrees in Arabic
although the current speech is a variety of Ki-Swaheli mixed with a few Malagasy
and niunerous South African elements, introduced by Makua and other slaves from
the mainland. These slaves still constitute nearly half of the population, although
the Sultans have undertaken to abolish slavery.

The Freiich island of Mayotte (Maute) is three times smaller, but commercially
more important, than Great Comoro. The roadstead, protected eastwards by the
islet of Pamanzi, is very deep and spacious enough to accormnodate whole fleets.
But although it enjoys the advantage of free trade, Mayotte is too small to attract
much tragic, and has failed to realise the hopes of those who expected it would
become a great mart for Madagascar and the mainland. Besides cocoanuts it
yields coffee, cotton and especially vanilla, and the planters, chieflj" from Mauritius
and Reunion, have recently taken to the cultivation of sugar and distillation of rum.

The administration, at first established at Zaitdzi, at the western extremity of
Pamanzi, has been transferred to Mamufzu or Shoa, facing it on the east side of
Mayotte. But the largest place in the island is JiTSapcre, close to the hill of like
name over a mile farther inland. Since the French annexation the population of
Mayotte has increased fourfold, having risen from three thousand three hundred in
1843 to about twelve thousand in 1898.

Anjuan {Johanna, Nmani) has always enjoyed a considerable trade as an
intermediate station between the Cape and India. The British cruisers employed
in the suppression of the slave trade maintained a provision and coaling station

470

SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA.

on this island, which is the most fertile of the Comoro group, yielding good crops,
especially of sugar. Its Arab sultan resides at Miamiic/ii, called also ^Vjijuau, a
sort of mediaeval fortified town situated on the north-west side, and with a popula-
tion of nearly four thousand.

Moheli {Moali), smallest of the Comoros, is also very fertile and abundantly

Fig. 145. — Mayotte.

Scale 1 : 460.000.

Liepths.

0 to 160
Feet.

160 Feet and
upwards.

.12 Miles.

watered. Its cocoanut, coffee, sugar, vanilla and clove plantations, chiefly owned
by EngHsh capitalists, form a broad verdant zone round about the capital, Fomboni.
Great Comoro {Nyaziya), although the largest and most populous member of
the archipelago, is little cidtivated and seldom visited by traders, owing to the
absence of water and good havens. The sultan resides at Muroni, a small place
situated on a creek on the south-west coast.

THE SEYCHELLES. 471

A geographical dependence of the Comoros are the reefs running north-east of
Mayotte parallel with Madagascar, and terminating in the little group of uninhabited
Glorieuse islets. About 120 miles farther north lies the coraUine group of the
Cosmoledos, also uninhabited, but claimed by the English as a dependency of
Mauritius. Under the same latitude, but seventy miles to the west, is the larger
island of Ahlabra, a true atoll divided into several secondary islets and reefs.
, Here a few Norwegian families, chiefly from Bergen, founded a fishing station in
1879. Aldabra is visited by gigantic turtles and myriads of aquatic birds.

All these islets lying east and north of the Comoros have a total extent of
little over sixty square miles.

IV. — The Amirantes and Seychelles.

North of Madagascar the main insular axis is continued over 120 miles sea-
wards by a submarine plateau about 900 fathoms deep. Above this plateau rise a
few scattered islets separated by a profound trough from the two archipelagoes of
the Amirantes and Seychelles. All these insular groups belong politically to Great
Britain as dependencies of Mauritius.

Farquhar, the nearest to Madagascar, is not quite uninhabited, a few fishermen
mostly from the Mascarenhas having established themselves on the western island
of Joao de Nova. Farther north follow some dangerous reefs, and beyond them
the numerous islets of the Amirantes, so named by the Portuguese in honour of
the great " Admiral," Vasco de Gama, who discovered them in 1502. Of the
whole group, some one hundred and fifty altogether, not more than six are
inhabited by settlers from Mauritius and the Sej'chelles. They rise but a few
yards above sea-level, and are covered with cocoanut groves, and some grassy tracts
affording pasturage to a few herds of zebus and sheep.

The Se//iV/e/!es, or better Sechelks, so named from Moreau de Sechelles, form a
group of twenty-nine islets besides a number of insular reefs, nearly all bearing
the names of French gentlemen of the eighteenth century. They are mostly
disposed in circular form, as if resting on a submerged atoll about 90 miles in
circumference. But between the coral formations granitic rocks identical with
those of Madagascar have cropped out here and there. Such are those of Mahe
(3,200 feet), Praslin (3,000), and Silhouette (2,550). Mahe, the largest, has an
area of 50 square miles, nearly half of the whole archipelago.

Although lying within 300 miles of the equator, these islands are compara-
tively healthy even for Europeans, the stagnation of air and water being prevented
by the alternating trade winds, while the equable temperature, never exceeding
84° or falHng below 78° F., renders this one of the most delightfiil climates in
the world. Although not entirelj' free from cyclones, as was at one time supposed,
the Seychelles are nevertheless rarelj' visited by these atmospheric disturbances.

The local flora comprises altogether about three hundred and forty species, of
which some sixty are endemic, including three varieties of the pandanus. But the
archipelago is especially famous as the home of the celebrated fan-palm (Jodoicea

472

SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA.

SeycheUarum), whose fruit, however, ripens only in the two islands of Praslin and
Curieuse. This fruit, consisting of two nuts in a single case, remains fresh for
months, and is thus often borne by the currents to the coasts of India, and even

Fig. 146. — Setchixles.

Scale 1 : 1,000,000.

fc~-= rj-At

Easb Op GrenKv

0 to 160
Feet.

Depths.

160 to 320
Feet.

320 to 3.200 Feet
and upwards.

24 Miles.

as far as Java and other Malay islands, where it was gathered as a priceless
treasure, and supposed to come from the depths of the ocean, hence the name of
" sea cocoanut " given to it by seafarers. The wood of the lodoicea is so hard
that objects made of it are almost indestructible.

THE SEYCKELLES.

473

The fauna of the Seychelles is extremely poor, comprising only one species of
mammal not introduced by man. The reptiles and amphibia, till recently
including a crocodile, belong to the same genera as those of Madagascar and the
Mascarenhas. The same remark applies to the birds, of which there are fifteen
species, and of these thirteen endemic. Insects also are surprisingly rare, but
include a so-called "walking leaf" {phyllium siccifolium) , so closely resembling a
green leaf that naturalists spend weeks in himting for a single specimen.

Fig. 147. — SUBMABINB BiNK8 OF MaBAOASCAE AND THE MaSCABEJTHAS.

Scale 1 : 35.000,000.

50"

een w I cr

Depths.

1,500 Fathoms and
upwards.

, 600 Miles.

Foreign plants and animals have mostly been introduced from Mauritius and
Reunion, whence have also come the inhabitants of pure or mixed European
descent. Hence, although the Seychelles belong to England, the current speech
is the French creole patois of Mauritius modified by some English words and
expressions. Negroes are also numerous, for the most part captives rescued by
the British cruisers from the Arab dhows.

Sufficient tobacco, cacao, coffee, sugar, rice, and other produce are raised for

474 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. '

the local consumption. Goats also thrive, and are almost the only domestic
animals. The exports are mainly cocoanuts under the form of copra, and of late
years vanilla, besides tortoise-shell and cloves. Tliis trade, which has lately
suffered from a disease of the cocoanut palm, is chiefly centred in Port Victoria, as
the English have renamed MaM, on the north side of Mahe Island, so designated
from the Governor of the He de France, who took possession of the Seychelles in
1743. Mahe is a port of call for whalers and for the steamers plying between
Suez and Mauritius.

The Seychelles are administered from Mauritius, although distant over 1,000
miles from that colonj-. If they were ever geographically connected, the inter-
vening lands or islands probably described a great curve south-east of the
Seychelles, where the soundings have revealed extensive submarine banks, such as
Saya de Malha, Nazareth and others. Towards the southern extremity of
Nazareth occur the islets of Cargadon or Garai/os, called also St. Brendan, like
the mysterious land associated with the legend of the Irish saint of that name.

The Cargados have a total area of 13 square miles, and are covered with
cocoanuts belonging to the people of Mauritius. About a dozen hands are
employed in collecting the nuts, preparing the copra, and curing fish.

Within the vast semicircle of deep waters enclosed by Madagascar, the
Amirantes, the Seychelles, Nazareth, and the Mascarcnhas, there also occur a few
islets representing the peaks of mountains rising to the surface from depths of
2,000 fathoms. South of the Seychelles, and beyond Plate Island, a mere clump
of palms, follow at a distance of 420 miles the Galegas {Galega or Coetivy), which
from their extensive cocoanut forests take the title of the " oil islands" in common
with the Cargados group. In Great Galega, 12 square miles in extent, a little
community of over two himdred Mauritian Creoles is occupied in the preparation
of the oil from the cocoanut plantations.

Tromelin Island, about midway between the Cargados and St. Mary of
Madagascar, is a mere sandbank rising 15 or 16 feet above the surface. On
this bank, not more than 150 acres in extent, a slaver was wrecked in 1761, and
fifteen years afterwards a vessel, somewhat tardily sent to the rescue, found seven
negresses still alive.

>^^

1^^

^^^^

8I^Sf

^^^jr^Y ^^

^^^

wk\

^?^i^1\k'

SIkM

^P^

Wy^

1^^^

ImH

lujji

APPENDIX.

STATISTICAL TABLES.

ANGOLA.

(PORTUGITESE WEST AFRICAN POSSESSIONS.)
Area, 484,000 square miles; population (1898), 4,120,000.

Districts.

CONOO

LOANDA .

Benqcella .

ADMINISTEATIVE DIVISIONS.

Concelhos or Circles.
IS. Antonio de Soaho, left bank Lower Congo

Chief Towns.
. Santo-Antonio.

, S. Salvador, Mposo Basin S. Salvador, pop. 2,000.

j Kissanga and Noki Delegations, on the Congo ....

lEncoje, Upper Loje Basin Encoje.

/Ambriz, Lower Loje Basin Ambriz, pop. 3,200.

Alto Dande, Upper Dande Basin

Barra do Dande, Lower Dande Basin

Golungo Alto, Upper Bengo Basin

Zenza do Golungo, Lower Bengo Basin

Loanda, Lower Cuanza Basin Loanda, pop. 18,000.

Duque de Bragan(,a, Upper Lu-Calla Basin Duque de Bragancja.

Ambaca, Middle Lu-Calla Basin Pamba.

Cazengo. Lower Lu-Calla Basin CacuUo.

Tala Mogongo, Cuanza and Kwango Waterparting . .

Malaagc, Upper Cuanza Basin Malange.

Pungo-Ndongo, right bank Middle Cuanza Pungo-Ndongo, p. 1,700.

Cambambe

Massangano

Mushima

Calumbo )
^ Cassanjc, Upper Kwango Basin . . .
/ Novo Eedondo, seaboard south of the Cuvo

Egito \

Catumbella

Benguella |

Dombe Grande /

Quillengues, Upper Capororo Basin Quillengues.

^ Caconda, Upper Cnnene Basin Caconda.

y Lower Cuanza Basin

> Coastlands

Dondo, pop. 3,200.

Massangano.

Mushima.

Calumbo.

Cassanje.

Novo Redondo

Egito.

Catumljella.

Benguella, pop. 5,100i

Dombe Grande, 4,000.

476

AITENDIX,

Districts.

MOSSAMSDES

Concolhos or Circles. Chief Towns.

' Mossamedes, southern seaboard Mossamedes, pop. 6,000.

Capangom'be (Bumbo), Upper Giraul Basin Capangombc.

Hunlpata^ ^ Humpata.

Huilla
Gambos i
Humbe J

V CaealoTar Basin

LtTNBA, annexed 1886 : .\rea, 172,000 square miles ; population, 2,000,000.

i Huilla.
Gambos.
Humbe.

Import.s. Exports.

Tradeof Angola in 1887 £470,000 £373,000

,, „ 1891 052,000 740,000

,', „ 1897 827,000 1,040,000

Shipping (1897) . . vessels entered 286 . . tonnage 432,000

„ . . „ cleared 282 . . „ 430,000

Total 668 862,000

, Shipping (British) : 37, of 44,240 tons.
,, (German) : 33, of 45,7o0 tons.

(Portuguese) : 190, of 326,450 tons.
Eevenue (1898) : £330,000; expenditure, £370,000.
Railway open (1899) : 230 miles.
Telegraph lines (1899) : 430 miles; offices, 13.
Postal returns (1899) : letters despatched, 280,000 ; telegrams, 11,000.

TEIBAL GROUPS IN ANGOLA.

Ba-Ftotoe Ba-Congo
Geottp . . .

NOETHERN A-BuNDA

(Bin-Bundo,
Bonde) Geotjp

soctheen a-bunda
Geoup ....

Ganouella Geoup

Aboeioinal (Bush-
men t ) Geovp

Generally between the Congo
and the Cuanza.

Mu-Sorongo

Mu-Shicongo ....

Bamba

Muyolo

Ma-Vumbu

Ma-Takka

Ba-Nano (Highlanders) .

Songo

Ba-Ngala . . .

Ma-Shinje ....

HoUo

Ba-Buero (Lowlanders) .

LiboUo ....

Aniboella ....

Kissama . . .

Mu-Ndorabe . . .

Mu-Seli ....

Ba-Mkombi

Ba-Nbaneka ....
Kuamba ....

Kimbandu [■ Upper Ku-Bango Basin

Lushaze

Ba-Kwando

Ba-Kwisse

Ba-Kubale (Cabae) . . .

Ba-Koroka

Ea-Kankala

Ba-Simba (Ximba, Cimbeba)

Ouanza and Ewango Basins.

\ Upper Cunene Basin.

South coast and Mossamedes
generally.

APPENDIX.

477

DAMAKA AND NAMAQUA LANDS.

GERMAN SOUTH-WEST AFEICA.
Area, 322,450 square miles ; coastline, 930 miles ; population (1898), 200,000.

MAIN TRIBAL DIVISIONS.

Ova-Mbo (Ovambo) Cunene Basin

Oba-Heeero (Cattle or Lowland Damaras) j between the Ova-Mbo (

Oba-Zoboto i ^'""^ ?.^™.°P 1 Highland Damaras ( and Walvisch Bay
( Hau Khom ) '

Geeat NAMAattAS, between Walvisch Bay and the Orange River .

Total

100,000
84,000

16,000
200,000

White population (1899), 2,630, mostly Germans.

Military force, 755 officers and men, all Europeans.

Revenue (1898), £93,000, including Imperial contribution of £82,000 ; expenditure, £99,600 ;

deficit, £6,700. >

Imports (1898), £244,000 ; exports, £62,000.

CAPE COLONY.

Area, in 8q. Miles. Population (Census 1891)

Colony proper

. 191,416

956,485

Griqualand West .

. 15,197

83,375

East Griqualand .

7,594

152,618

Tembuland . . . .

4,122

180,415

Transkei . . . .

2,552

153,563

Walvisch Bay

430

768

I?indoland

4,000

166,000

British Bechuanaland .

. 51,424

72,736

Total

276,735

1,765,960

POPULATION ACCORDING TO RACES.

Whites : 382,000, of whom 50,000 Briti.sh, 6,500 German, the rest of Dutch and British descent.
Coloured: 1,380,000, of whom 14,000 Malay, 248,000 half-castes of all kinds, 22,000 Hottentots, 70,000
Bechuanas ; the rest Kafirs, Fingos, and other Bantus.

ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS.

Provinces. Fiscal and Magisterial Districts.

Western ... 1. Cape Town; 2. Cape Division; 3. Wynberg; 4. Simon's Town; 5. Stellen-

bosch ; 6. Paarl.
NoETH-WESTER>f . I. Malmesbuiy; 2. Piquetberg; 3. Namaqualand: 4. Port NoUoth; 5. ClanwiUiam;
6. Calvinia; 7. Worcester: 8. Tulbagh ; 9. Ceres.
1. Swellendara : 2. Robertson; 3 . Riveradalo : 4. Ladysmith; 5. Caledon ; 6. Bre-
dasdorp; 7. Oudtshoom; S.George; 9. Uniondale; lO.Mossel Bay ; 11. Knysna.
1. Graaf-Keinet ; 2. Murraysburg ; 3. Aberdeen; 4. Beaufort: 5. Prince Albert ;
6. Willowmore ; 7. Victoria We^t ; 8. Prieska; 9 . Fraserburg ; 10. Sutherland;
11. Carnarvon 12. Richmond; 13. Hopetown.

South- Westeen

Midland

478

APPENDIX.

Provinces.

South-Easteen . 1.

NOETn-EASTEBN . 1.

£a6TBBN . . . 1.

Fiscal and MagisWrial Districts,
Albany; 2. Bathurst ; 3. Victoria East; 4. Feddie ; 6. Uitenhago; 6. Jansen-
\'ille; V. Hnmansdorp; 8. Alexandria: 'J. Port Elizabeth.
Fort Beaufort ; 2. Stockonstrom ; 3. Albert; 4. Somerset East; .5. Bedford;
6. Cradook; 7. Steynsburg ; 8. Coleaberg : 9. Hanover; 10. Middelburg.
King William's Town ; 2. Stutterheiin ; 3. Komgha; 4. East Loudon ; 5. Queen's
Town; 6. Cathcart; T.Tarka; 8. Aliwal North ; 9. Herschel ; 10. Wodehonse ;
U. Barkly East.

CHIEF TOWNS.

Cape Town, with suburbs

Kimberley

Port Elizabeth

Graham's Town

Beaconsfield

Paarl

King William's Town

East London

Graaf.Reinet

Steljenbosch

Worcester .

Uitenhage

Cradock .

Simon's Town

FopulatioD, 1891.
83,000
•29,000
23,000
10,.500
1(1,470

7,700

7,'200

6,920

S,900

5,500

5,400

5,300

4,400

4,000

TRADE RETURNS.

Chief Exports. 18&4.

Wool £1,745,000

Ostrich feathers .... 966,000

Hides and skins. . . 438,000

Copper ore 405,000

Angora hair .... 240,000

Wine 18,000

Diamonds 2,807,000

Oold (raw)

Chief Imrorts. 1884.

Textile fabrics, dress, &c. . . —

Food, drinks, &c. ... —

Imports from Great Britain 3,053,000

Total imports . . 5,249,000

1899.

£1,496,000

605,000

514,000

300,000

676,000

17,000

4,454,000

10,992,00r

1897.

4,598,000

3,818,000

12,839,000

17,930,000

SHIPPING.

Vessels entered (1897), 1,093 ; tonnage, 2,694,000. Coastwise 1,278; tonnage, 3,726,000.
Vessels cleared (1897), 1,089; tonnage, 2,710,000. Coastwise 1,276; tonnage, 3,723,000.
Total registered shipping of Colony (1898): steamers, 24, of 3,112 tons; sailing, 7, of 528 tons; total.
31, of 3,640 tons.

AGRICULTURAL RETURNS.

Cattle (1875) 1,112,000; (1898) 1,201,000.
Sheep „ 10,997,000; „ 12,616,000.
Goats „ 3,065,000; ,, 5,316,000.
Farms (1881) 16,166,000, comprising 83,900,000 acres.
Titles issued (1897) 3,588 ; alienating 1,383,000 acres.
Total land alienated to end of 1897, 127,550,000.
Land still undisposed of (1898), 49,453,000 acres.

APPENDIX.

479

Total area under cultivation (1875) 580,000 acres ; no later returns.
Wheat crop (1S87) 3,554,000 bushels ; (1898) 1,950,000 bushels.
Barley crop ,, 1,041,000 „ „ 908,000 „

Oat crop „ 1,360,000 „ „ 1,447,000 „

Maize crop ,, 2,438,000 ,, „ :, 140,000 ,,

Oat-hay crop „ 214,405,000 lbs. „ 254,000,000 lbs.

Vineyards (1875), 18,000 acres; yield (1898), 4,862,000 gallons of wine.
Tobacco crop (1898) 3,934,000 lbs.

FINANCE.

Years.
1882
1884
1886
1897

Eevenue.
£4,893,000 .
7,534,000 .
3,224,000 .
7,390,000 .

Ezpenditnre.

£5,674,000
.5,256,000
3,804,000
8,638,000

The chief sources of revenue are taxation (about £3,000,000), services rendered (about £4,000,000),
fines, stores issued, &c. (about £120,000), and Colonial estate (£306,000). Expenditiire : Public Debt
(£1,255,000), EaUways (i'2,000,000), Defence (£375,000), PoUce (£430,000), CivU Establishment
(£166,000). •

PUBLIC DEBT.

Years.
1869
1887
1897

Capital.
£1,178,000
21,172,000
27,282,000

Annual charge.

£1,081,000
1,255,000

AEMY.

Cape Mounted Riflemen (1897) .... 1,015 officers and men.

Volunteers 7,000 .. .,

PfHce 1,900 ,, „

Horses 1,700

PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.

Aided schools (1897), 2,135. Daily average attendance, 91,000. Total enrohnent, 120,000. There
la one University, with 5 colleges and over 500 students.

Government expenditure for education (1897), £195,000.

Attendance of whites (1897), 60,000. Attendance of coloured races (1897), 316,000. In 1891, of
the European population, about 28 per cent, were unlettered.

Public libraries (1897), 107, with 357,000 volumes.

EELICtION.

Christians of all denominations (1891)
Reformed Dutch Church
Wesleyans .
Episcopalians (Anglican)
Lutherans .
Moravian Brethren
Roman Catholics .
Mohammedans

750,000

306,000

106,000

139,000

20,000

16,000

17,000

15.000

480 APPENDIX.

RAILWAYS.

Total mileage of (rOTeminent lines (1897), 1,900 miles.

„ ,, private lines (1897), 360 miles.

Capital expended on railways to 1897, £16,330,000.
Average cost per mile, £10,16.5.

Gross receipts (1897), £3,070,000 ; expenses, £1,898,000.
Passengers carried (1897, 9,223,000) ; goods, 1,340,000 tons.

POSTAL AND TELEGRAPH SERVICES.

Post-offices (1897), 934 ; revenue, £481,000; expenditure, £430,000.

Letters carried (1897), 19,484,000; newspapers, &c., 12,207,000.

Telegraph offices (1897), 426 ; lines, 6,610 miles.

Messages despatched (1897), 2,392,000.

Revenue (1897), £149,000 , expenditure, £132,000.

CHIEF TRIBAL GROUPS IN CAPE COLONY AND NEIGHBOURING
♦ DISTRICTS.

San, or Bushmen, north-western districts, left bank of the Orange, and in the Kalahari Desert.
Khoi-Khoin, or Hottentots, chiefly in western parts of Capo Colony, Great and Little Namaqua-
land, and Griqualand West.

MAIN BRANCHES OF THE HOTTENTOT RACE.

Hau-Damop, i.e., "True Damas," or Hac-Khoin, i.e., "True Hottentots," called also Hill
Damaras and Ova-Zorotu ; Damaraland coast range east of the Herero (" Cattle Damara ") territory.

Great Namaquas. Geikow, or "Red Men," Oerlam, hilly districts south-east of Walvisch Bay,
Topuaar, Walvisch Bay territory.

Little Namaouas. North-western districts of Cape Colony.

KoHANAS, properly Kobaoua, MidtUe and Upper Orange, Vaal and Moddcr rivers.

Gkiuca, so called " Bastaards," half-caste Hottentots and Dutch, chiefly in Griqualand West.

GoNAauA, or " Border Men," towards east frontier of Cape Colony ; nearly extinct.

GEIQUALANI) WEST.

Area, 1.5,000 square miles ; population (1891), 83,000.

ELECTORAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS.

1. Kimberley; 2. BarklyWest; 3. Herbert; 4. Upper Hay, or Griqua Town. Chief Towns:
Kimberley (population about 30,000), Beaconsfield, 10,000.

THE GRIQUALANT) DIAMOND FIELDS.

Mines. Ertent. Depth. "''^S-f^""'*^'

Kimberley ... 5 30 acres 460 feet \

De Beers .... 15 ,. 540 ,. /

Bultfontein .... 28 „ 320 „ ^20,710,000

DuToifsPan .... 31 ,, 310 „ )
Total yield of the dry diggings (1867-1897), £83,000,000.

APPENDIX. 481

BECHUANALAND PEOTECTORATE.

Total area, 213,000 square miles. Population (1898), 200,000.
Chief town, Palapye : population (1898), 20,000.
Estimated revenue (1897), £48,000 ; expenditure, £88,000.

CHIEF TRIBAL DIVISIONS IN BECHUANALAND.

> Baharutse, west of the Upper Limpopo, on the north-west frontier of Transvaal.

Batlapi, i.e., '• Fish People," in the hUly district north of Griqualand West.

Bamanowato, North Bechuanaland, and thence northwards towards the Zambese ; most powerful of
all the Bechuana nations. Capital, Shoshong.

Batlabo, southernmost of the Bechuana tribes, on north-west frontier of Griqualand West ; now
mostly absorbed in the Batlapi group.

Baealono, in the district comprised between the Molopo River and the tributaries of the Kuruman .

Bakatla, in the Gamcohopa district, watered by a western afiSuent of the Limpopo.

Bawanketsi, in the district of Khanye, Upper Limpopo basin.

Bakwena, Limpopo basin north of the Bawanketsi territory.

Batoana, a branch of the Bamangwatos, on the plains stretching north of Lake Ngami.

Bachwapeng, in the hilly district north-east of Shoshong.

Basilika, east of Shoshong, near the left bank of the Limpopo. ,

Bakaiahari, or Balala, the Bechuanas of the Kalahari Desert.

Masaewa, mi.xed Bechuana and Bushman tribes, Kalahari Desert, hitherto treated as slaves by the
full-blooded Bechuanas.

BASUTOLAND.

Area, 10,300 square miles. Population (1895), 250,000.

Total exports (1898), £138,000 ; imports, £100,000.

Revenue (1898), £46,550 ; expenditure, £45,000.

Schools (1898) 144 : attendance, 7,540.

Live-stock : cattle, 321,000 ; sheep, 290,000 ; horses, 81,000 ; swine, 15,000.

■•> administrate: dimsions.

District of Leribe and Maseru . . population 60,000 )

„ Berea .... ,, 30,000 .' East of Caledon.

„ Thaba-Bossigo ... ,, 75,000 '

„ Komet-Spruit ... ,, 70,000, between the Makhaleng and Orange.

,, Quthing and Quacha's Nek ,, 15.000, between the Upper Ontnge and the

Drakenberg Mountains
Chief towns : Thaba-Bossigo and Maseru, the capital.

TEANSKEI, TEMBU, AND PONDO LANDS.

Area, 10,714 square miles. Population (1891), over 500,000. Population of Trauskei (census
1891), 153,500.

POPULATION OF EAST GRIQUALAND (1891).

Ama-Khosas 100,000

Basutos 20,000

Ama-Fingos and Griquas . . . 26,000

Whites 4,000

Total 150,000

AFRICA IV. i i

482

APPENDIX.

CHIEF TRIBAL DIVISIONS IN TRANSKEI AND NEIGHBOURING

DISTRICTS.

.ViiA-KoSA (Khosa, Xosa), the chief Knfir nation, chiefly in the Trans- Kei district.

Galekas, between the Great Kei and Bashee Rivers.

CiAiK.\s, west of the Kei River ; extinct as an independent nation.

Aii.\-FiNoo, about the Great Fish Kiver, north of the Galeka territory.

ABA-TEJtBr, more commonly known as " Tambukies " in Tembuland, north and east of the Fingo

and Galeka territories.

AiH-PoKDO

Ama-Kongwe
Ama-Kongwela
Ama-Kobala
jVma-Kwera
Ama-Nyati
Ama-Bala .
V jima-Yali .

in Pondoland, between the Umtata River and the
soathem frontier of Natal.

foksomisi
Aiu-Baka

A^ia-Xesibe
East Geiqija .

East Griqualand, in North-west Kafirland, between Natal, Pondoland, and

Tembuland.

GENEALOGICAL TABLE OF THE KAFIR NATIONS.
Zuide (1.500 r) reputed founder of the nation.

Tembu

Ama-Tembu

(Tambookies)

Tembuland and

Emigrant •' Tambookieland.'

I
Kosa (1530?)

I
Toguh

Palo (died 1780?)
tenth in descent from
Kosa

Mpondo

Ama-Pondo. Ama-Pondomisi

I
Abelungu
(dispersed).

Galeka

Klanta

Hinza

Kreli

Ama-Galekas.

Omlao
Gaika (Ngqika)

Macomo

I
Tzali

I
Sandib

Ama-Gaikas

(mostly dispersed).

Rarabe
(Khakhape)

I
Mbalu

Ama-Balu

Ama-Gwali

Ama-Ntinde

Ama-Gunukwebi

Ama-Velelo

Ama-Baxa

Imi-Dange

Imi-Dushane.

Ndhlambe

Ama-Ndhlambe

Tslambies.

NATAL.

Area, 35,000 square miles. Population (1898) 829,005.

POPULATION .^CORDING TO RACES.

1879.

Europeans 24,654

Zulu-Kafirs 319,934

Indians and others 16,999

Total 361,587

1898.

61,000

714,635

53,370

829,005

APPENDIX.

483

admixistratrt; divisions.

Coanties.

Divisions.

i-Geni .
PiBTER Maeitzbtteo "i Lion's River

raty.

Um-G

Durban

ViCTOEIA
ITlI-TOTI

Klip Eiaee

Weenen
Alfred
Alexaiisba .

I Upper Um-Komaiii

^ Ixopo

I Borough .

I Um-Lazi .

( Inanda

\ Lower Tugela .

fKlip River
Newcastle
Um-Zinga

Total

White Pop. {1881).

Chief Towns.

. 8,474

Pieter Maritzbiirg

. 2,519

York.

. 1,048

Ho wick.

754

Richmond.

571

Spring-vale

8,543

Durban.

. 2,873

Pinetown.

. 1,341

Verulam.

812

Stanger.

1,771

Grey town.

. 1,008

Lady smith.

. 2,016

Newcastle

721

Helpmakaar

1,770

Weenen.

665

Harding.

567

Alexandra.

35,453

POPULATION OF CHIEF TOWNS.

Europeans.

Natives.

Durban (1885) . . 8,900
Pieter Maritzburg (1885) 8,470

4,520
3,790

Hindus

Total

and others.

(1898).

3,710

39,245

1,960

24,595

TEADE RETURNS.

Year.
1350
1860
1870
1880
1885
1897

1897 Total value of imports and exports .

1897 To*'^! value of exchanges with Great Britain

1897 Wool exported to Great Britain

1897 Hides exported to Great Britain

1897 Sugar exported to Great Britain

Imports.
£110,000
355,000
430,000
2,337,000
1,519,000
5,983,000

Exports.
£17,000
140,000
383,000
891,000
878,000
1,622,000

£7,605,000

4,160,000

475,000

51,000

12,000

SHIPPING (1897).

Vessels entered : 780; tonnage, 1,246,000.
„ cleared: 789; „ 1,248,000.

Registered shipping of the Colony : 29 vessels, of 3,653 tons.

AGRICULTURAL RETURNS.

Land acquired by grant or purchase by Europeans . . 7,598,000 acres.

Land re*r\'ed for Kafir occupation 2,250,000 acres.

Land unalienated by the Crown 650,000 acres.

Land under cultivation by Europeans (1898) . . . 247,000 acres.
Sugar crop (1898), l^i,500tons; exported, 12,000 tons.
Tea crop (1898), 849,000 lbs. Tea plantations (1898), 2,664 acres.
Land under cultivation by natives (1897), about 600,000 acres.

Livestock (1897): Cattle, 126,000; sheep, 650,500: Angora goats, 55,000; horses, 27,000, owned
by Europeans. Cattle, 115.000 ; sheep, 21,000 ; goats, 252,000 ; horses, 22,000, owned by natives.
Land under forest (1897), 160,000 acres.
Land under thorny scrub (1897), 1,800,000 acres.

484 APPENDIX.

nNANCE.

Yeu8 Rerenae. Expanditnn.

1882 £658,000 . . . £738,000

1884 '. 610,000 . . . 647,000

1897 2,213,000 . . . 1,625,00(1

PubUc Debt, 1897 .... £8,019,000

Chief Soueces of Revenue (1897) : —

RaUways, £1,286,000; Customs, £413,000; Excise, £20,000 ; Land sales, £44,000; mails, 67,000 ^
telegraphs, £23,000 ; stamps and licences, £31,000 ; native hut tax, £94,000.

Chief Itexs of Expenditoee (1S97) : —

Eailways, £560,000 ; Public Works, £90,000 ; Defence, £166,000

RAILWAYS.

Lines open (1887), 220 miles; (1898), 487 miles. Total cost of construction (1899), £6,590,000.
Eeoeipts (1897), £1,051,000 ; expenditure, £584,000.

PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.

Primary and high schools, under Qovemment inspection, 65 ; attendance (1898), 7,690.
Native schools, 159 ; attendance, 8,540.
Schools for Indians, 30 ; attendance, 1,960.
Public expenditure on schools (1898), £45,600.

DEFENCE (1899).

European Mounted Police, 500 ; Corps of European Volunteers, 2,000 ; Volunteer Naval Defence
Corps, 100 ; Imperial troops, 10,000 (?).

CHIEF TRIBAL DIVISIONS IN NATAL AND ITS DEPENDENCIES.

Ama-Zulu proper, assumed to be directly descended from Zulu, founder

of the race ; Natal and Zululand.
Ama-Tefelu \ r

Undwande

Abantd Ba-Kwa-Zulu, i.e. .
" People of Zulu's Land."

_ , , aboriginal tribes absorbed in the Ama-Zulus.

Umlela i

Dmtetwa

Ama-Ntombela, extinct, said to have been the true mother tribe of all

\ the Zulus.

Amatonoa, between Zululand and Delagoa Bay.

Ama-Swazi, between Delagoa Bay and Transvaal.

KoTB. — Chaka, who created the Zulu military power about the beginning of the present century, was
seventh in descent through Kumede, JIakeba, Punga, Ndaba, Tama, and Tezengakona, from Zulu, re-
puted founder of the nation. After Chaka, the dynasty was continued through Dingaan and Panda to
Ketchwayo, last ruler of the Zulu empire.

ZULU, SWAZI, AIs^D TOXGA LANDS.

Area of British Zululand . . 8,500 square miles ; population (1898) . . 197,000
Area of Tongaland . . . 7,000 „ „ . . 30,000
Area of Swaziland, now adminis-
tered by the Transvaal . . 8,500 „ „ . . 50,000

24,000 277,000

} '

APPENDIX. 485

THE OEAKGE EIYER COLOXY..

Area, 48,326 square miles. Population (1890), 208,000.

POPULATION ACCOEDING TO KACES (1890).

' Males. Females. Total.

Whites 40,570 37,145 77,715

Natives 67,791 61,996 129,787

108,361 99,141 207,502

POPULATION (WHITE) ACCORDING TO RELIGION (1890).

Dutch Eeformed Church 68,940

Episcopalians, (Anglican) 1,353

Wesleyans ... 753

Roman Catholics 466

Sundries . . . , 8,00p

Estimated white and native population (1899), 230,000.
Capital, Bloemfoutein , population (1899), 6,000.

Add the Thaba N'Sho (Barolong) territory now annexed, with a population (1898) of about 13,000.

FINANCE.

Tean. Bevenne. Expenditure.

1882-3 £175,350 . . . £200,500

1884-5 228,000 . . . 230,000

1886-7 168,300 . . . 142,300

1898 402,200 . . . 382,000

PuUio Debt (1897), £40,000.
TRADE RETURNS.

I Imports from Exports to

(1S8T). (1897).

Cape Colony . . . . . £913,158 . . . £735,883

Natal ... .... 185,469 . . . 127,253

Baautoland 107,987 . . . 59,368

Transvaal 25,085 . . . 871,738

Total . . £1,231,699 . . £1,794,242

AGRICULTURAL AND MINERAL RETURNS.

Number of Farms (1890), 10,500.

Land available for cultivation, 29,918,000 acres.

Land under cultivation, 250,600 acres.

Live stock : Horses, 249,000 ; cattie, 896,000 ; sheep, 6,620,000 ; goats, 858,000 ; ostriches on the
farms, 1,460.

Yield of, diamonds (1890), 99,255 carats, valued at £223,960; (1894), 282,598 carats, valued at
£428,000.

Total value of diamonds exported in 1896, £462,500 ; in 1897, £441,000.

COMMUNICATIONS.

Railway lines (1898), 366 miles ; capital cost, £2,500,000 ; gross profits, £504,000.
Telegraph lines (1898), 1,430 miles, with 1,683 miles of wire, and 333 miles of railway telegraph
with 1,000 miles of wire.

486

APPENDIX.

TRANSVAAL COLONY.

Area : Transvaal proper 119,139 sq. miles.

Swaziland dependency 8, .500 „

Total . . 127,639 sq. miles.

Population according to the very incomplete census of April, 189(5 : Whites, 245,397 ; natives, ,
622,500; total, 867,897. *

Population according to the State Almanack for 1898 ; —

Whites, 137,947 males ; 107,4.50 females Total 346,397

Natives: 148,155 men; 183,280 women; 417,324 children „ 1,094,156

Total whites and natives 1,439,553

CHIEF TOWNS, WITH ESTIMATED POPULATION (1898).

Pretoria (capital) 10,000

Johannesburg . . 110,000

riarberton 8,000

I'otchefstroom 7,000

Pietersburg 6,000

Leydsdorp 6,000

WHITE POPULATION ACCORDING TO RELIGIONS

Dutch Reformed Church . . 30,000

Other Dutch Sects . . 33,000

English Episcopalian . . 30,000

Wesleyan 20,000

Presbyterian

Other Protestant Churches

Koman Catholic

Jews

10,000
10,000
6,000
10,000

AGRICULTURAL AND MINERAL RETURNS.

Land under cultivation (1898), 50,000 acres.

Farms, 12,250, of which 3,636 belong to the Government.

Output of Gold :—

Year.

Amoant.

Year.

Amount.

1884

. £10,000

1892

. £4,541,000

1887

. 170,000

1894

7,067,000

1889

. 1,490,000

1895

8,570,000

1890

. 1.870,000

1896

8,600,000

1891

. 2,924,000

1897

. 11,476,000

Output of G

old in the mining

districts (1897) :-

Witwatersrand

> •

3,034,678 oz.

, va

lue £10,564,000

Dc Kaap

113,972

399,000

Klerksdorp .

84,781

297,000

Lydenburg .

60,942

178,000

Zoutpansberg

223

800

Swaziland, &c.

5,120

17,920

Output of Coal : —

1895, 1,133,000 tons; 1896, 1,437,000 tons; 1897, 1,600,000 tons ; 1898, 1,750,000 tons.

COMMUNICATIONS.

Railways open (1899), 774 miles ; in progress, 270 miles ; projected, 262 miles.
Telegraph lines (1899), 2,000 miles.

APPENDIX.

487

FINANCE.

Revenue.

1892 £1,256,000

1894 ... . . 2,248,000

1896 3,.540,000

1897 4,480,000

Expenditure.

£1,189,000
1,73.5,000
4,671,000
4,394,000

Chief Soueces of B,evenue (1897): —

Import duties, £1,276,000: Netherlands Railway, £737,000; prospecting licences, £427,000; ex-
plosiTes, £300,000 ; stamps, £258,000 ; posts and telegraphs, £215,000.
Chief Items of Expenditdee (1897): —

Public works, £1,012,000; salaries, £997,000; war department, £396,000; purchase of explosives,
£271,000.

Public Debt (1898), £2,673,700, including Eothschild loan, £2,500,000, and direct liabilities to Great
Britain, £146,700.

TRADE RETURNS.

Imports (1894), £6,440,000 ; (1896), £14,088,000 ; (1897), £21,515,000.
Imports from Great Britain (1897;, £17,012,000.

„ United States „ 2,747,000.

„ Germany „ 1,054,000.

POKTUGUESE EAST

ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS (1898)

LoUEEN^o Marques, with Inhambane, Beira, Sofala, and Manica Districts
Z.VMBEZI.A.. with .Senna, Tete, and Ziimbo Districts
MozAMBiavE, with Nyassa and Namuli Districts

Total
FINANCE (1898).

A.FEICA.

(1898).

Area in

Population

Sq. Miles.

(estimated).

Districts

127,000

1,700,000

33,000

420,000

140,000

1,000,000

300,000

Revenue, £846,000 ; Expenditure, £800,000.

Defence, (1899) 4,890 men (1,640 Europeans; 3,250 natives).

COMMUNICATIONS (1899).

Delagoa Bay Railway : 57 miles within the colony.
Beira Railway : 222 miles within the colony.
Telegraph lines : 950 miles.

3,120,000

CHIEF TOWNS (1898).

Population

lestimated).

(estimated)

Louren(;o Marques

5,000

Ibo . . . .

1,500

Mozambique

8,000

Tete . . . .

3,000

Quilimane

7,000

Sena . . . .

500

Chinde

6,000

Zumbo . . . .

700

Beira

4,000

Inhambane .

2,000

TRADE RETURNS.

Mozambique (1897), imports, £152,000 ; exports, £160,000 ; shipping, 236 vessels, of 172,000 tons
(22, of 32,000 tons. British).

Quilimane (1898). import.*. £95,000: exports, £76,000.

Beira (1S97), imports, £579,000 ; exports, £36,000 ; transit trade, £205,000; shipping, 237 vessels,
of 28:3,000 tons (118, of 132,000 tons, British).

Chinde (1897), shipping, 69 vessels, of 32,850 tons (22, of 22,000 tons, British).

Loureni^o Marques, imports (1896). £639,000; (1897), £784,000; exports (1896), £18,000 : (1897),
£38.000 : transit trade (1896), £1,519.000 ; (1897), £2,660,000; shipping (1897), 267 vessels, of 691,000
tons.

Total trade with Great Britain, imports to (1895), £44,000 ; (1897), £126,000; exports from (1895),
£587,000 ; (1897), £1,265,000.

488 APPENDIX.

CHIEF TRIBAL GROUPS, LOUREN^O MARQUES DIVISION.

Zulus, here called Uhooni and Laitdins, the ruling nation, settled chiefly in the hilly districts about
the sources of the Buzi River.

^,^' *" } on the plains south and south-east of the Zulus.

Mandowa ) '^

Tongas, akin to the Basutos, the aborifcines of Gazaland.

Chobi, or " Bowmen," along the left bank of the Lower Limpopo.

MiNDONOs, or Northern Chobi, Inhambane district. ^

Ma-Kwakwa8, on the plains north-west of Inhambane.

Ma-6wanza8, along the left bank of the Limpopo and its tributaries.

Ma-Lonowas, or Ma-Eongwis, north of the Ma-Gwanzas.

BiLA-KuLU, towards the Sabi delta.

Hlenoas, on the inland plains between the Limpopo and Sabi basins.

Ki-Tevi \

Gwa-Tevi ! near the Manica Highlands ; probably the Quiteve of the older writers.

Aba-Tevi '

Note. — To all these tribes the term Tonga is commonly applied in a collective sense.

CHIEF TRIBAL GROUPS, MOZAMBIQUE DIVISION,
t

Mtambwb, right bank of the Rovuma and its island.
Manyanja, about the Rovuma and Lujenda confluence.

Maowanowaea, north-east shores of Lake Nyassa and headwaters of the Rovuma.
Wanindi, so-called "Maviti," the region north of the Upper Rovuma.

Maeva, the chief nation in the Mozambique territory, between the coast and the headwaters of
the Lujenda.

5 Chief subdivisions of the Makuas.

MlHAVANI )

Mawa, cannibals, southern slopes of the Namuli highlands and along the banks bf the Lukugu.
LoMWE, chiefly in the Luria basin, north and north-east of the Namuli highlands.
Vao, or Wa-Hitao, called also Ajawa, in the region enclosed between the Rovuma and Lujenda.
Mavita, or Matiba, coast district south of the Lower Rovuma, probably akin to the Makonde on
the north side of the same river.

SOUTHERN RHODESIA.

(MATABELE AND MASHONA LANDS.)

Area in Population

8q. Miles. (estimated, 1899).

Matabeleland 60,728 240,000

Mashonaland 114,000 210,000

Total Southern Rhodesia . 174,728 450,000

CHIEF TOWNS AND STATIONS (1898).

Salisbury (capital), Bulawayo (largest town, with 5,000 inhabitant.s, of whom about 3,000 Euro-
peans), Gwelo, L'mtali, Chimoio. Ingwenia, Queque, Sebakwe, Figtree, Inugo, Fort Usher, Umchabez,
Mansinyana, Fort Victoria, Geelong, Umlugulu, Filabun, Belingwe, Enkeldoom, Melsetter.

Goldfields, estimated area, 5,250 square miles.

Farms (Matabeleland), 1,070, aggregating 6,400,000 acres.

Railways open (1899) : Bulawayo to Cape Town, 1,360 miles ; Salisbury to Beira, 180 miles. Lines
in progress : Bulawayo, through Gwelo to the Zambese for Lake Tanganyika, 860 miles.

Telegraphs (Rhodesia and African Transcontinental Telegraph Company (1898), 2,635 miles of line,
and 3,613 miles of wire.

APPENDIX. 489

NOETHEEI^ RHODESIA AND BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA.

(BAEOTSELAKD, NTASSA-TANGANYIKA PLATEAU, NYASSALAXD.)

Area in

Population

8q. Miles.

(esHmated. 1899)

200,000

2,000,000

250,000

650,000

42,000

846,000

Barotse Protectorate

South Africa Chartered Company's territory .
British Central Africa. Protectorate

Total .... 492,000 3,496,000

Capital of Barotseland (the " King's Kraal "), Lialui. Residence of a British Commissioner ; monthly
postfil service by foot-runners organised (1899) with Bulawayo.

Capital of the Chartered Company's territory tiU 1899, piantyre (population 6,000).

Capital of British Central Africa, Zomba.

Administrative districts of the Company's territory, Chambezi, Tanganyika, Mweru, Luapola,
Loangwa.

Chief stations in British Central Africa : Blantyre, Zomba, Chiromo, Port Herald, Chikwawa,
Katunga, Fort Anderson, Fort Lister, Mpimbi, Liwonde, Fort Sharpe, Fort Johnston, Fort Maguire,
Livingstonia, Rifu, Kotakota, Bandawe, Nkata, Likoma, Deep Bay, Karonga.

Imports (1897), £78,650; (1898) £86,430.

Exports (1897), £23,300; (1898) £27,440. •

Revenue (1898), £24,540 ; expenditure, £66,000.

Coffee Plantations (1898), 2,000 acres ; crop, 420 tons. Coffee exported, £24, .540.

Defence (1898) : 800 trained natives, 185 Sikhs from India, 200 district police, 6 gunboats, with
English crews, on the Zambese, the Shire and Lake Nyassa.

Post-offices, 20. Telegraph.: the section of the African Transcontinental Telegraph Company's
line traversing the Protectorate and connecting (1899) Fort Johnston, Zomba, and BlantjTe, through
Tete, with Salisbury, Bulawfiyo and Cape Town.

CHIEF TRIBAL DIVISIONS OF RHODESIA.

GANOCEtLAS, akin to the Angolan Ganguellas, Upper Ku-Bango and Ku-Ito valleys.

LrcHAZE, Upper Kwando Basin.

Amboexlas, Ku-Bango, Ku-Ito, and Kwando valleys.

Mv-Kasbekbre, Bushmen, Lower Ku-Bango.

Dahico

Ba-Viko J j

,j •(Lower Ku-Bango and neighbouring lacustrine region.

Ra-NajaoJ

Ba-Toana, a branch of the Bamangwato Bechuanas, west side of Lake Ngami.

Ba-Yeye, or Ba-Kuba, the aborigines of the Lake Ngami region.

Ba-Lunda, Lobale and Upper Zambese valleys.

Makololo, a Basuto tribe, founders of the Barotse Protectorate, Middle Zambese. Extinct.

Babotse (Ungenge, Lui, Luina), the present dominant race in the Barotse Protectorate.

Mambujjda ^

Mamboe

Makalaka

Mananja

Mankoya

Masupia

Matonoa

Malaya

Mashvkvlombwe

Mashcbia

Matotola

Balieale

Maplnocla

Makes

Madenassana

Matabele. of mixed Zulu stock, intruders in Matabeleland.

,,' ' On the waterparting between the Limpopo and the Zambese.

MashONA t re r r

' The chief nations in the Barotse Protectorate and the Chobe Basin.

490 APPENDIX.

liANTAi. right bnuk of the Zambese, above the Kafukwo Confluence.

Ama-Zizi, low caste tribes (Bushmen?), MatabtWand.

KIasorikori

Mtande [ North Matabelelaud, along right bank of the Zambese.

Batoka

Maviti

Mazitu /

Manoone I

MtntHAKS

Wachtjnou ) c

Marimba f

Zulu intruders in the Nyassa region, chiefly along the vest side of the lake.

c
«

The chief aboriginal tribes on the west side of Lake Nyassa.

Manoanya (
Maeavi '

MAKotOLO (Eastern), a people of mixed descent, dominant on the Shire between Nyassa and the
Zambese.

Maoanya, left bank of the Shire, south of Blantyre.

GEEMAN EAST AFRICA.

Area, 384,000 square miles; coast line, 620 miles ; population (estimated 1899), 4,000,000, of whom
680 are GermansJ mostly officials.

CHIEF TOWNS AND STATIONS (1898).

Dar-es-Salaam (capital): Population, 13,000: Bagamoyo, 13,000; Kilwa, 10.000; Ujiji, 7,000;
Tabora, 8,000; Mpwapwa, 5,000; Tanga, 5,000 ; Saadani, .5,000; Pangani, 4,000.

Revenue (1899), £100,000; Imperial contribution, £300,000 ; expenditure, £400,000.
Imports (1S97), £430,000; exports, £200,000; ivory exported (1897), £84,000; rubber, £4.5,000.
sesame, £S,000 ; gum, £8,700.

Defence ■ 1,'.70 natives. 180 Germans, 500 Askaris (armed natives).

Railway open (1899), 10 miles.

Telegraph stations, 9 : submarine cable to Zanzibar.

CHIEF TRIBAL DIVISIONS.

Makonde, north side of the Rovuma, akin to the JIavihas of the coast district.
Makua, Masasi district, akin to the Mozambique Makuas.

,„ I North side of the Upper Rovuma basin.

'\Vangi>'do. or Waoindo, called also Wali-Huhu. north and north-west of the Makonde territfiry.

MAnESGE, Eufiji ba.sin, between Uganda and Ruaha.

'WA^•TAKA.^■YAKA, Serfs of the Mahenges.

Wandoxde, or Wadonm, Rufiji basin, east of the Mahenge territory.

Wazarajio, powerful nation of mixed origin, between the Rufiji, the Kinganiand the Swaheli coast.

Wakweee \

WAKAia J rude hill tribes akin to the Wazaramos, chiefly about the headwaters of the Kingani.

■Wakhutu '

„. i Middle and Lower vvami basin.

Wai)0£. cannibals, formerly in the Wami basin, now scattered in small g^onps northwards in the
direction of Masailand.

Wasagaea, the chief nation in the Usagara highlands.
WAHEnE, south of the Wasagaras, in the Ruha valley.
Wakexa, .serfs of the Wahehcs.

WAMBm )

■Wakuovbu I north of the Wasagara territorj-, towards the frontier of Masailand.

Waoeja '

Waoogo, widespread nation on the plateau between the Usagara highlands and Unyamezi.

Swaheli (Wa-Swaheli), that is, "Coast People," the Mohammedans of Bantu speech, stretching
along the seaboard from Malindi and Mombasa southwards to and beyond the Rufiji.

Wasoukta. the Swahelis of the i.sland of VOanzibar, Their speech, accepted as the literary standard,
is widely diffused throughout East Central Africa.

APPENDIX.

491

BKITISH EAST AFEICA AKD ZANZIBAR PROTECTOEATE.

British East Africa
Zanzibar, with Pemha

Total

Area in

8q. Miles.

400,000

1,020

401,020

Population
(estimated, 1898).
2,500,000
200,000

2,700,000

CHIEF TOWNS (1898).
Mombasa (capital of British East Africa), 30,000 ; Zanzibar (capital of the Protectorate), 30,000.

administratrt; provinces of British east africa.

Seyyidieh. Ukambaj Tanaland with Vitu, Jubaland.

Eevenue (1897), £39,000; (1898), £43,900.
Imports (1897), £392,000 ; (1898), £446,000.
Exports (1897), £117,000; (1898), £110.000.

COMMUNICATIONS (1899).

Mombasa to Uganda Railway, open to Kikuyu, 335 miles. Sclater's Road : Mombasa to Lake
Victoria, 400 miles.

Zauzibae: Imports (1897) £1,400,000; exports, £1,190,000.

Imports from Great Britain, £160,000; exports to Great Britain, £163,000.
Shipping (1897) : 150 vessels, of 245,000 tons, of which 45, of 75,000 tons, British.

Bantu Stock (

CHIEF TRIBAL DIVISIONS.

/ Washenzi, or Wabondei, about the lower course of the Pangani and adjacent coast-
lands.

WASAMB.4RA, numeroTis nation, Usambara highlands, west and north of the
Washenzi.

Wapaee, the hUly district north-west of Usambara.

AVaeuvtj, that is, " River People," chiefly in the islands of the Lower Pangani.

W'ataveta, in the wooded district between Lake Jipe and EHima-Kjaro.

Wachaga (Shiro, Kibonoto, Mashame, Uru, Kibosho, Mpokomo, Moshi, Kirua.
Kilema, Maranii, Mamba, Mwika, Nsai, Rombo, Useri, Kimangelia), western,
southern, and eastern slopes of Mount Kilima-Xjaro ; akin to the Wasambaras.

Wateita, the hilly district east of the Taveta territory.

Wantika, that is "Lowlanders." on the plains north of the Sambara hills.

Wadigo, a ntunerous branch of the Wanyikas, on the coast south of Mombasa.

Wadueuma, ukin to the Wanyikas, near the Mombasa district.

Dakalo, on the coast north of Mombasa, serfs of the Gallas.

Waboxi, Wasanieh. along the shores of Formosa Bay, Bantus of Galla speech.

Wapokojio, in the Pokomoni or Tana River basin ; northernmost of the Bantu
populations on the East African seaboard.

Wakamba, or WAKmAKOAO, numerous Bantu nation, on the plains south of Moimt
Kenia.

WAKiKiTn, akin to the Wakambas, south and south-west of Mount Kenia.

Mbe, or Dhaicho, on the plains east and north-east of Kenia. known only by name ;
believed to be the northernmost of all the Bantu peoples in this direction.

Wambuol'. or Ala, an aboriginal tribe in the wooded districts between the Usam-
bara and Pare highlands.

Wasilikomo, that is '"Dwarfs." an indigenous people who roam to the west of
Kilima-Njao.

Watvtwa, Wakaea, Waeoei, Bantu peoples, along the south-eastern shores of

^ Lake Victoria Nranza.

492

APPENDIX.

Wakwavi, or ^
■Wash'afi. The I Enjems^, Lake Baringo district.

agricultural and I Kosova, Lurabwa, near Kavirondo, east side Victoria Nyanza.
semi-civilised sec- ( Arusha, Meruw, Buva, Nguru, about Mount Kilima-Njaro and thence south-
tion of the Masai wards,

nation . )

The Masai Sigirari, Kisongo, Sogonoi, Ngiri, Laitokitok, mainly in the vidnitj of Monnt
proper (Il-Oikob) I Kilima-Njaro.

unsettled and pre- | Matumbato, Kaputei, Kinangop, Dogilani, Enguaso, Engishu, in the districts
datory. ' stretching north and west of Mount Kilima-Njaro.

-, ^ . I Bararetta and Korokoro, along the right bank of the Tana.

TtTKKANA . . West aide of Lake Rudolf.

SOMALILAND AND EAST GALLALAND.

British SomalUand ....
Italian Somaliland ....
Abyisinian Somali and East Gralla Lands

Total

Area in
8q. MileB.
68,000
100,000
230,000

398,000

Populatiun

(estimated, 1899).

300,000

400,000

. 3,300,000

4,000,000

BRITISH SOMALILAND (1898).

Chief Towns : Berbera (capital), 30,000 ; Zaila, 6,000 : Bulbar, 5,000.

Revenue, £30,000; expenditure, £20,000 ; imports, £520,000; exports, £525,000.

Nations.

Rahaitwin

(southern region
south of the Webi) .

Hawiya
(Ogaden and cen-
tral regions).

Hasita
(northern region
between Tajurah
Bay and Cape
Guardafui).

CHIEF DIVISIONS OF THE SOMALI RACE.

Tribes.

KalaUa

Tuni
Elai
Barawa
Jidn

Wadan .
Abgal
Gurgate .
Habar Gader
Karanle .

Estiiiiated
population.

20,000
25,000

Daboda —
Mijertin.
War-Sengeli .
Dolbohant
Ogaden .
Marehan
Tusuf
Tenade .
Ishak—
Habr Gahr-Haji
Habr Awal .
Habr Tol
Habr Tol-Jalleh
Habr Tunis .
Issa (E'issa) .
Gadibursi
Ghiri .
Bertiri
Babilli .
^Bersub .

104,000

50,000

70,000
25,000

12,000

20,000

APPENDIX. 493

CHIEF DIVISIONS OF THE EASTERN GALLAS.

Jarso, north of the Harrar district.

NOLE

JNOLE \

Ala I about the headstreaniB and along the upper course of the Webi.

Itto '

Eknita, in the basin of the river Errer, main branch of the Webi of Harrar.

^ } south of the Enniya territory.

RVSSA I ^jj^^j, j.jjg jjead waters and upper course of the Juba.
Panioal )

_ ( Ta, Till, in the extreme south, reaching in scattered groups as far as the

BoEAHi or VuoEENA ^ neighbourhood of Mount Kenia and Lake Rudolf.

SOKOTEA (BEITISH PROTECTORATE).

Area 1,382 square miles ; population (1898), 12,000.
Chief towns, Tamarida, Kolessea, Temira.

TEIBAL DIVISIONS.

_ } central uplands.

KiSHIM ) ^

MoMi, eastern district ; Karohin, western district.

MADAGASCAR (FRENCH COLONY).

Area with adjacent islets : 238,000 square miles.

Population variously estimated at from 2,500,000 to 5,000,000. Population, according to the most
trustworthy estimates, 5,000,000.

CHIEF TOWNS.

PopulatioD.

Antananarivo, the capital 100,000

Tamatave, chief port on the east coast . ■ 7,000

Mojanga, chief port on the west coast 6,000

Fiaranratsoa ........... 6,600

Ambohimanga 6,000

Marovoai 6,000

Tullear 6,000

Antsirana 5,000

Andovoranto 3,000

TEADE RETURNS.

Imports (1897), £540,000 ; exports, £144,000.

Exports to Great Britain: 1878, £4,300; 1883, £88,000 ; 1884, £15,000 ; 1886, £7,000; 1896,
£62,000.

Imports from Great Britain ; 1878, £22,000 ; 1880, £50,000; 1884, £10,400; 1886, £52,000 ; 1896,
£270,000.

Chief exports, caoutchouc (1897), £13,000 ; hemp (1897), £14,000 ; wax, £18,000.

Chief imports cotton goods (1896), i:n2,000 ; (1897), £113,000.

Total shipping (1897), 2,300 ships, of 510,000 tons burden.

Trade of Diego Suarcz (1897), £80,000.

494 APPENDIX.

ReUOION AST Public Instedction before the French occupation (no later returns).

450,000; Roman Catholics 50,000

1,800 ; attendance 170,000

818; , 106,000

Protestants (1895)

Schools opened (1895)

Schools of the London missions

Schools of the Norwegian Missions

Roman Catholic schools

117 „ 28,000

191 „ 20,000

Colonial troops (1897), 5,700, of all arms.
Revenue (1898), £300,000 ; expenditure, £380,000.

CHIEF TETBAL DIVISIONS.

HoTA, the ruling people, province of Imerina.

Betsileo, central plateaux, south of the Hova.

Antanala, centr.-il plateaux, south of the Betsileo.

B.vKA (Ibara)

Ant.ysossi

M-iHAFALi southern districts, south of the Antanala territory.

ASTASDHOI

ASTAISAXA I

AxTANKARA \ jjQj^gj^ districts, north of the Hova.

TAUnilETY I

Sakalava i

Antifiheuenana

Antisten'abe ' ., 5

, west coastlands.

AXTIMAHILAEA

AUTDIAEAnA

Antibuexi
Betsimisahaka

jijNTAIMOKO

Antaiibaboaka

Betanimena .

Antankai } sast coastlands.

Antisihanaka

Taipast

Taisaza

€«

A FEW NOTES ON THE ETHNOLOGY AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE
DIFFERENT TRIBES INHABITING MADAGASCAR.

Communicated htj thi: Rtv. Jumes Sibree.

As little attention has hitherto been directed to this subject, it is difficult to speak with much
confidence as to the classification of the Malagasy tribes. Our information is at present very frag-
mentary, so all that can be done as yet must be considered only as tentative, pending more minute and
scientific investigation.

Broadly speaking, the various races inhabiting Madagascar may be divided into three chief groups,
inhabiting respectively the eastern, central, and western portions of the island. Of these, the
Betsimisaraka may be taken as the type of the eastern races, the Hova of the central ones, and the
Sakalava of the western tribes. Looking at colour and contour of face, hair, &c., the Hovas certainly
appear to be somewhat distinctly marked off from all the other tribes, and their dialect is also different,
having a number of hard, firm consonantal sounds in certain words, whereas on the coast (and also in the
south-central provinces) these words consist almost wholly of vowels. The Hovas also add a final na,
ia, and tra, to numbers of words which are only dissyllables in the coast dialects, so that in Hova they
are trisyllabic. From the information we at present possess there seems a greater similarity between all

APPENDIX. 495

the coast dialects, east and -west, than between any one of them and the Hova. While the dialectic
differences are considerable in various parts of the island, there seems no trace of another language from
a distinctly different stock. Even in Sakalava, which is somewhat strongly marked off from the central
and eastern dialects, there does not appear to be a radical difference from the speech of the rest of the
island. All round the coast they give a nasal sound to «, which is not given by the Hovas, and also a
broader sound to the vowels. Thus, o, which in Hova is invariably pronounced as oo, has nearly the
open sound of our English o in most of the coast dialects.

Sakalava is a word now used to denote generally all the tribes inhabiting the western side of the
island. It is, however, rather a political than a tribal name, as now applied at least. The Sakalavas
t proper were a small tribe from the south-west coast, who made themselves dominant over the whole of
the western peoples. Sakalava therefore now includes, going southwards from the northern point of
the island : Antankaia, Tsimihetx, Tiboina, Timilanja, Tsimafana, Autimena, Tifiherenaua, Vezo,
Mahafaly, Tandroy, extreme south. Besides these there are the Mainty or "black people," conquered
by the Hovas and settled by them in a district north of Imerina. The Mainty are divided into the
Manendy, Manisotra, and Tsiarondaly.

Then in the centre are the Hovas. Strange to say, we know less about their tribal divisions than of
some other tribes, probably because the political divisions have acquired more importance of late years.
They have six political divisions, but there are probably three main tribal divisions, viz., the people of
Imerina proper, of Vonigongo, and of Imamo. These first have the following divisions : Voromahery,
Tsimiamboholahy, Tsinahafoty, Mandiavato, Marovatana, and probably others.

South of these are the BetsUeo, sometimes called the southern Hovas, but I fancy more nearly allied
to the eastern coast tribes. There are three main divisions of these, the Isandra, Halangina, and
larindrano. *

Farther south still are the Bara, divided into numerous tribes. It is difficult to say whether they
ought to be classed with the eastern or western races; possibly they are a link between the two.

Then on the east coast are numerous tribes commonly called Betsimisaraka. This, however, is
hardly correct : the Betsimisaraka do not stretch all along the east coast, and they have never conquered
the rest, as did the Sakalava those on the west. Their name seems to have acquired a prominence only
because they live in the neighbourhood of Tamatave and other ports frequented by Europeans.

Going from the north to the south we have the Sihanaka between the two lines of eastern forest,
and to the west and north of them the Zana-tsihanaka, south of them the Tanhay or Beganozano, and
then south for several hundred miles numerous tribes of Tanala or forest people, inhabiting the great
forest. There are the Tsimanompo, Taivonona, Taisonjo, Zaiisoro, Ikongo, and many others among
these Tanala.

Then on the coast are the Betsimisaraka, the Betanimena, the Taimoro, the Taifasy, the Tatsimaha,
the Taifasy, Tanisy, and others.

NOSSI-BE (FKENCH COLONY).

Area, 113 square miles. Population (1898), 7,800.

Chief town, Hellville.

Imports and exports (1898), £75,000.

Shipping, 32,000 tons.

COMOEO ISLANDS (FEENCH PKOTECTORATE).
AREA AND POPULATION.

Area in
Bq. miles.
Great Comoro ........ 440

.Moheli 90

Anjuan ......... 150

Mayotte and adjacent islets . . 140

Total . 8-20 53,000

Population

aS88).

22,000

7,000

14,000

10,000

496

APPENDIX.

CHIEF TOWNS

Mamutsu, in Mayotte.

Fomboni, in Moheli.

Johanna > . . .
„ } in Aniuan

i'omony )

„ . ^ in Great Comoro.
Murom )

CHIEF TRIBAL DIVISIONS

Antaloch, the aborigines of the archipelago
Va-Noasiya, in Great Comoro.
Hahokki, the dominant class.

SEYCHELLES.

Population (1891)
Revenue (1898)
Expenditure ,,
Imports , ,

Exports ,,

Schools, 28 ;

16,440

£30,000

£25,000

£112,000

£150,000

attendance, 2,332.

INDEX.

Abai River, 384
Abaya Lake, 379
Abd-el-Kuri, 420
Abercom, 272
Aberdeen, 132
Abgal, 398, 409
Abraham's Island, 460
A-Bundo, 20
Abyssinians, 402
Adamanta, 147
Aden, 414

Gulf of, 380, 381
Administration of Angola, 58

Basutoland, 170

Cape Colony, 144,

Gazaland, 234

Lower Zambese, 277

Madagascar, 463

Mozambique, 299

Natal, 188

Orange Free State, 200

Transvaal, 214

Zanzibar, 334

Zululand, 19.5
Adone, 39S
Afrikanders, 206, 215
Agulhas Cape, 82
Aimoro, 44.')
Airensit Mountain, 381
Ajawa, 277, 293
Aji, 399
Akkas, 108
A-kwa, 108
Alaotra, Lake, 429
Alas, 403

Aldabra Island, 471
Alexandria, 135
Algoa Bay, 83
Alice, 130
Aliwal, North, 136

South, 132
Allula, 411, 413
Almedo Mountains, 412
Ama-Baka, 177
Ama-Bala, 176
Ama-KLosa, 12.5, 170, 174
Ama-Kobala, 176
Ama-Kongwe, 176
Ama-Kongwela, 176
Ama-Kwera, 176
Ama-Landi, 278
Ama-Ndebeli, 264
AFRICA IV.

Amara Hills, 379
Amaramba Lake, 286
Ama-Swazi, 194
Aniatongaland, 193
Ama-Xesibe, 177
Ama-Tali, 176
Ama-Zi^i, 268
Ama-Zulu, 191
Ambaca, 28, 40, 43
Ambahi, 457
Ambaniandro, 442
AmbanOauatra, 442
Ambaquistas, 49
Ambassi, 32
Amber Cape, 420
Ambivinini, 427
Amboalambo, 442 •
Ambodimadiro, 4.54, 462
Amboditaimamo Mountain, 428
Amboella, 25, 257
Ambohimanga, 456
Ambohipeno, 457
Ambriz, 2, 36
Ambrizette, 35
Amirantes Islands, 471
Ampanalana, 430
Ampombitokana, 462
Andevo, 442
AndohaJo, 456
Andovoranto, 430, 458
Andrade-Corvo Mountain, 4
Andriana, 442, 464
Anghrabies Falls, 88
^Vngola, 1
Angosha Island, 288

Town, 295
Angoni, 276
Angra do Negro, 50
Augra Fria, 11, 76
Angra Pequena, 76
Augwa River, 271
Anishah, 76
Anjuan Island, 469
Ankai VaUey, 430, 446
Aukaratra Mountains, 427, 430
Ankatsaoka, 463
Ankober Mountains, 377
Ankor Mountain, 38 )

Port, 413
Anossi, 445
Antananarivo, 455
Ant'Aloch, 469

Ant' Aimoro, 445
Ant'AmbaboalSa, 445
Aut'Anala, 445
Ant'Androi, 445
Ant' Ankai, 446
Ant' Ankara, 447
Ant' Anossi, 445
Aut'Sihanaka, 446
Antelope Mountain, 84
Anti-Bueui, 444
Anti-Fiherenana, 444
Anti-Mahafali, 444
Anti-MahUaka, 444
Anti-Mana, 444
Antomboka, 460
Antomoro, 462
Anton-Gil Bay, 422
Antsinana, 461
Anyassa, 277
Arabs in Madagascar, 455
Aruanga River, 233
Arussa, 403
Arussi, 403
Athi River, 340
Awash River, 379
Azania, 382

Babakoto Indris, 446
Ba-Bwero, 20
Badera, 407
Ba-Fyot, 16
Bagamoyo, 322
Bahia dos Tigres, 54
Bahia Pinda, 54
Ba-Hlengwe, 206
Ba-Hlokoa, 206
Ba-Hlukwa, 206
BaUombo River, 8
Ba-Kalahari, 165
Ba-Kankala, 26
Ba-Katla, 162
Ba-Koroka, 26
Ba-Kuba, 259
Ba-Kulabe, 26
Ba-Kwando, 25
Ba-Kwena, 162
Ba-Kwisse, 25
BaU Island, 441
Bal Tir, 407
Baluchi, 407
Ba-Lnnda, 258
Ba-Mangwato, 160

498

INDEX.

£a-Mapola, 206
Bamba, 17
Bampa, 275
Banader, 4U9
Ba-Nano, 20
Bandawe, 275
Bandar-Zixdeh, 411
Biingue, 233
Bangweolu, Lake, 272
Banken-Veld, 202
Ba-Nkombi, 26
Bantus, 107
Ba-Nyai, 266
Banyans, 230
Ba-Rapuza, 195
Bararetta, 369
Baras, 445
Barberton, 214
Bari. 412

Baringo Lake, 341
Barkly, 137
Ba-Koa, 109
Ba-Roka, 200
Ba-Rolong, 161
Ba-Rotse, 157, 162
Barotse Protectorate. 260
Bar-es-Somal, 391
Ba-Rue, 234
Ba-Sarwa, 165
Ba-Senga, 270
Baehee River, 174
Bashukulompo, 262
Ba-SiUka, 1G5
Ba-Simba, 26
Ba-Soetla, 206
Ba-Songa, 7
Bastaards, G9
Ba-Suto, 27, 108, 166
Basutoland, 166
Bathiirst, 134
Ba-Tlapi, 160
Ba-Tlars, 160
Ba-Toana, 163
Ba-Toka, 262
BaTonga, 220
Battas, 441
Battias, 230
BaTwa. 108
Ba-Venda, 206
Ba-Viko, 258
Bavotabe, 462
Ba-Wanketsi, 162
Ba-Ximba, 26
Ba-Teye, 258
Bazaruto, 233
Beaconsfield, 155
Beaufort West, 131
Beehuanas, 108, 157
Bechuanaland, 156
Bedford, 135
Bedouins of Sokotra, 418
Beira, 233
Beja Hamites, 395
Belezoni River, 351
Belmonte, 47
Belmore Harbour, 297
Bembe, 36
Benadir, 409
Bender Ahbas, 414
Bender d'Agoa, 411
Bender Filuk, 413
Bender fihazem, 412
Bender Khor, 412
Bender Meraya, 412
Bengo River, 36
Benguella, 5, 48, 49
Velha, 49

Boniovski, 424

Berbera, 413

Berca, 170

Borghel, 4 1 1

Berlin, 136

Bersub, 399

Bortiri, 399

Besopy, 466

Bctanimeua, 446

Bethany, 62, 77

Bethesda. 170

Bethulie, 199

Betsiboka River, 432

Betsileo, 445

Betsimisaraka, 446

Bezanozano, 4 16

Biggarsberg Mountains, 184

Bihe, 2, 47

Bihenos, 48

Bimal, 509

Biu-Bundo, 20

Binga-Tam-Bambi Mountain, 5

Blantyre, 276

Blaw Bergen, 84

Bloemfontein, 199

Blood Kiver, 191

Boers, 30, 122, 197, 204

Boghor, 399

Bombetok River, 432

Bay, 462
Bomvana, 175
Boomplaats, 203
Bor, 380
Borani, 404
Bosch Veld, 202
Bossassa, 412
Bottiala, 412
Bougues. 41
Bourbon, 423
Braunschweig, 136
Brava, 409
Bredasdorp, 130 "
Breeds River, 90

British East Africa Company, 374
British Cenhal Africa Protectorate,

271
Bueni, 444
Buffalo River, 136
Bulfontein, 151
Bulbar, 414
Bulua, 343
Bulum-Bulu. 4
Bulawayo, 267
Bumba River, 307
Bunda, 20

Bura Mountains, 343
Burghers, 136
Burnt Isbind, 413
Bushmen, 69, 108
Buta-Buta Mountain, 84
Butterworth, 173
Buzi River, 224

Cabae, 26

Cabe(;a de Cobra, 13, 35
Cabeceira Cape, 295
Cabinda. 18
CaboFrio, 11, 75
Caconda, 52
Cacullo. 43
Caculovar River, 9
Caledon Town, 430

River, 87
Calumbo, 41
Calunga River, 50
Calvinia, 130
Cambambe, 7

Cambanibe, 42

Cango, 131

Cangombe, 47

Capangombe, 51

Capo of Good Hope, 81

Cape I'adrao, 13

Capo Palmeirinhas, 40

Cape Town, 125

Capororo River, 8, 49

Caravan Trade, 324

Carados Islands, 474 .

Carnarvon, -137 '

Cathcart, 137

Cathkin Mountain, 84

Catumbella River, 8, 49

Cavaco, 49"

Cazengo, 42

Cedar Mountains, 81

Chagos Islands, 449

Chala Lake, 346

Chama-Chama, 228

Champagne Castle Mountain, 84

Chella Mountains, 5

Chihcharagnani Mountain, 350

Chikala Mountain, 286

Chikarongo Falls, 246

Chinde River, 252, 263

Chitambos Port, 279

Chiromo, 277

Chiuta Lake. 286

Chiwagulu, 294

Chobe River, 237, 240

Chobi, 229

Choma District, 273

Chombe Mountain, 250

Chrissie Lake, 214

Christianity in Madagascar, 449

South Africa, 117
Chuambo, 280
Cimbeba, 26, 448
Clanwilliam, 190
Climate of Angola, 10

Comoros, 468

Damaraland, 64

Gazaland, 224

Madagascar, 432

Masailand, ^'>2

Mozambique, 289

Namaqualand, 64

Somaliland, 387

South Africa, 95

Zambese Basin, 254

Zanzibar, 308
Cockscomb, 83
Coetivy Islands, 474
Colenso, 188
Colesburg, 137
Comoro Islands, 466
Compass Mountain, 83
Conducia, 297
Congo, 2
Congella, 187
Constantia, 128
Coolie Labour, Natal, 181
Corimba,'38
Cosmoledcs Islands, 471
Cuama Kiver, 247
Cuanza River, 2, 4, 6
Cuio Bay, 50
Cunene River, 8
Cuvo River, 8

Dabir, 412
D.ilbed, 412
Damaraland, 60
Damaras, 69, 72
Danakil, 391

c^-

INDEX.

Dande River, 6

Fauna of Namaqualand, 65

Great Fish River, 83, 91

Dar-es-Salaam, 320

Sokotra, 419

Karroo, 83

Darode, 399

Somaliland, 389

Kei River, 83, 92

Dauphin Island, 422

South Africa, 105

Windhoek, 75

Dawa River, 384

Zambese Basin, 25a

Namaqnas, 74

De Beer Mine, 151

Zanzibar, 310, 329

Grey town, 188

Deep Bay, 277

Fauresmith, 200

Griqualand East, 177

De Kaap Mines, 210, 211

Fenerife, 460

West, 147

Delagoa Bay, 92, 94, 216

Fenoarivo, 429, 460

Griqua Toimi, 155

Delgado Cape, 298, 301

Femao Vellozo Bay, 288, 297

Griquas, 116

» Devil'a Peak, 82
■ iiamond Falls, 88

Fianarantsoa, 457

Groot Winter-hoek, 83

Fife, 272

Groote River, 90

Fields, 149

Filuk Cape, 412

Groote Swarte Bergen, 83

Diego Dias, 550

Fingos, 173

Guardafui Cape, 381

Diego Suarez Bay, 431, 460

Flacourt, 422

Gubuluvayo, 269

Dikomo Island, 275

Flora of Angola, 12

Gugsa River, 384

Dilolo Lake, 242

Comoros, 468

Webi, 387

Dioscoridi Insula, 416

Damaraland, 65

Gundi-Inyanga, 222

Din-Skadra, 416

Gazaland, 225

GuOlermin, 454

Doe Mountain, 222

Madagascar, 433

Gurage, 387

Dogilani, 339

Masailand, 352

Gwai, 264

Dolbohan, 412

Mozambique, 289

Dombe- Grande, 50

Namaqualand, 65

Dombe-Pequeno, 50

Sokotra, 419

Habr Awal, 399

Dondo, 41, 42

Somaliland, 388

Habr Ghar Haji, 399

Drakenberg, 84

South Africa, 101

Habr Tol, 399

Dun, 116

Zambese Basin, 254

Hadramaut,'«90

Dungareta, 414

Zanzibar, 309, 329

Haggiar Mountain, 418

Dunye Bum, 340

Florence Bay, 250

Hais Mountain, 381

Dunye Ebor, 346

Fomboni, 470

Haisse, 116

Dnnye-la-Nyuki, 339

Fort Beaufort, 135

Hajar Mountain, 418

Dunye Lougonok, 339

Fort Dauphin, 422, 457

Halifa.x, 77

Dunye Ngai Mountain, 338

Fort Pcddie, 136

Haluleh, 412

Duqiie de Braganija, 44

Fort St. Lawrence, 296

Hama Mountain, 380

Durban, 178, 187

Fort St. Sebastian, 296

Hamarhwin, 410

Durka River, 384

Foulepointe, 432, 460

Hambi Mountain, 4

DuToit'sPan, 151

Frankfurt, 136

Hamilton Mountain, 85

Dvipa Sukbatara, 416

Fraserburg, 137

Handads, 398

French in Madagascar, 423

Hang-KUp Cape, 81

Freretown, 370, 374

Hantam Mountains, 130

East OaUa Land, 377

I>ot, 16

Hano%'er, 137

East London, 1 36

Harrismith, 200

Eastern Arcbipelago, 440

Gadabursi, 399

Harrar, 414

Edendale, 189

Galana Amarario, 379

Mountains, 380

Egito, 49

Galecas, 174

Hartebeest River, 87

Eissa, 399

Galegas Islands, 474

Hashim, 399

Elaudsberg, 135

Gallae, 369, 400

Hashiyas, 399

Eldoma RaviDe,*576

Grambos, 54

Hasina, 465

Elgon Mountain, 349

Gamtoa, Gamtoos, River, 90

Hau-Khoin, 72

Elmeteia Lake, 341

Gan Liba.sh Mountain, 380

Hawiyas, 398

Elongo Mountain, 4

Ganane, 408

Heidelberg, 212

Embarira, 264

Gandala, 412

Heis, 413

English in Madagascar, 423

Ganguella, 24

Hellville, 462

Enniya, 400

Garayos Islands, 474
Gariep River, 86

Hereros, 67, 69

Errer River, 400

Herschel, 137

Erstling, 213

Gaurits River, 90

Hikwa Lake, 307

Erythrean Sea, 421

Gazaland, 221

Himyarites, 390

Estcourt, 188

Gelidi, 411

Hindus, 446

Ethiopia, 400
Etosha Lake, 68, 237

George, 132
Ghirri, 399

Hlenga, 229
HohenzoUem-hafen, 379

Eureka, 214

Giant's Castle Mountain, 84

Holzenfels, "7

Eyasi Lake, 338

Girdif, 382

Hooge Veld, 202

Glorieuse Islands, 471

Hope-mine, 64

Fadi, 451

Gobron, 398

Hopetowu, 137

Fakidas, 397

Golis Mountain, 381

Hottentots, 67, 112

False Bay, 81

Gollonsir, 417

Hova Government, 454

Fandroana, 465

Golungo-Alto, 42

Language, 448

Fanompoana, 465

Gonaquas, 117

Race, 441

Faradifai, 457

Gonye Falls, 243

Howick, 188

Farafanga. 457

Gor Ali Moimtain, 381

Huamba, 24

Farquhar Island, 471

Gorongoza Mountains, 222

Huguenots in South Africa, 119

Fauna of Angola, 14

Goshen, 156

Huilla, 9, 52

Damaraland, 65

Graaf-Reinet, 132

Humansdorp, 132

Gazaland, 225

Graham's Town, 134

Humbe, 54

Madagascar, 436

Great Bushmanland, 81

Hnmpata. 53

Masailand, 353

Comoro, 467, 468, 470

Hundred Fnlld, 88

Mozambique, 290

Fish Bay, 54

Hygap River, 88

500

INDEX.

Ibea, 375

Ibo, 288, 398

Ildongo Mountain, 445

Ikongo Ifountain, 445

Ikopa River, 432

nm-Orma, 369

H-Oikob, 363

Imcrinii, 426

Immigration Natal, Ibl

Impaleru, 264

Indive River, 118

Inhabitants of Angola, IG
Becbuau:iland, 157
Comoros, 4(18
Damtiraland, 67
East Gallaland, 400
Gaz^iland, 227
Griqualand, 177
Katirland, 172
Madagascar, 433
Masailand, 354
Matebeleland, 264
Mozambique, 290
Namaqualand, 67
Natiil, 180
Nyassa, 271 .
Orange Free State, 197
Pondoland, 176
Sokotra, 417
Somaliland, 390
Soutli Africa, 107
Swaziland, 194
Transvaal, 204
Zambeseland, 257
Zanzibar, 310, 330
Zululaod, 191

Inhambane, 227, 231

Inbamiara River, 252

Inhamissengo River, 252

Inhangu, 234

Inyak Island, 94

Isandblwana, 191

Ishak, 399

Isipingo, 187

Isle of France, 424

Isle of Phuns, 460

Issa, 399

Itasy Lake, 428

Ittus, 403

Ivobibi, 427, 446

Ivondru, 430

Jafuna Land, 421
Jagersfontein, 200
Jamba Mountain, 4
Jansen\'iUe, 132
Janjam Mountains, 379
Jebel Karoma, 381
Jebel Tiur Island, 413
Jerso, 399

Jews in Madagascar, 451
Jibara, 389
Jiddas, 403
Jipe Lake, 343
Johanna Island, 460
Johannesburg, 210, 214
Jub, Juba, River, 385
Jubaland, 375
Juela-Mkoa, 326

Kaap Mines, 85
Kabari, 449
Kabinda, 16
Kabompo River, 261
Kaffaland, 387
Kafirland, 170

Kafirs, 124, 170

Kafukwe River, 246

Kakulij-Bale, Biver, 9

Kalai, 243

Kalahari Desert, 79, 88, 104

Kalk Bay, 128

Kanga Mountain, 283

Kansalo Rapids, 245

Kaoko Mountains, 62, 66

Karamojo, 341

Karonga, 275

Karroos, 104

Kartal Volcano, 4C7

Kasigao Mountain, 344

Kassai River, 4

Kat River, 135

Katong River, 161

Katuma River, 307

Kau, 406

Kebrabassa Rapids, 246

Kei River, 92

Keiskamma, 136

Kenia Mountain, 337, 348

Kerem, 413

Keve River, 8

Khanze 162

Khassain, 382

Khoin-Khoin, 67, 113

Khosib River, 65

Kibo Mountain, 345

Kilambo River, 274

Kilimaba^i Mountain, 343

Kilima-Xjaro Mountain, 337, 344

Kilindini, 374

Kiloa, 318

ICilwa Lake, 285

Kimawenzi Mountain, 345

Kimberley, 131

Kimos, 447

Kingani Kiver, 307

Kin^ George River, 94

King William's Town, 135

Kiokos, 257

Kiomboni River, 307

Kipini, 406

Kirwan Island, 342

Kisauga, 299

Kishi-Kashi, 334

Kishin, 418, 420

Kisi Island, 285

Kisimayu, 40>

Kiteve, 234

Ki-Tevi, 230

Kitombo, 444

Kitongwe Island, 285

Klip-drift, 151

Knob-noses, 206

Kokawe, 369

Kokstad, 177

Kola, 322

KoUesea, 417, 419

Kolobeng, 162

Koms-berg, S3

Komr Islands, 468

Kondoa, 303, 325

Kongoui River, 252

Koranas, 116

Kouso Hills. 379

Kornet-spiTiit River, 87

Korogero, 319

Korokoros, 369

Kota-Kota, 275

Krakatau, 440

Kroonstad, 200

Krugersdorp, 214

Ku-Bango River, 7, 236

Ku-Eyo River, 237

Kn-Ito, 237
Kuisip River, 65
Kumbi, 54
Ku-Ndo River, 28
Ku-Nene River, 8
Kurmo Moimtain, 381
Kurtiman Town, 161

River, 88
Kwa-Kwa River, 253
Kwama River, 247
Kwa-Ndo River, 237, 240
Kwango River, 2, 6
Kwanhania, 68
Kwathlamba Mountains, 84
Kwilu River, 6

Laborde, 454
Ladybraud, 199
Ladysmith, 131, 184, 188
Lamba, 449
Lamu, 407
Landins. 232
Laputa Gorge, 247
Las Gore, 412
Latuka, 161
Lelunda River, 6
Lembelo, 35
Lepelole, 162
Leribe, 170
Leydsdorp, 214
Liambai River, 242
Lianzundo, 7
Liba River, 242
LiboUo, 6, 24
Libonta, 264
Lidedi Lake, 286
Lidgetown, 188
Lienda River, 285
Ligonya River, 285
Likatlong, 161
Likwa Lake, 307
Liliu Draza, 450
Luubi Lake, 286
Limpopo River, 95
Lindi, 317
Linyati, 260, 264
Lion Mountain, 12, 125
Lissewa, 275
Litaku, 161
Liteyani, 162
Little Fish Bay, 50

Mangue, 35

Namaquas, 74
Livingstone Falls, 7

Mountains, 249, 304
Livingstonia, 276
Loanda, 1, 12, 37
Loa-Ngwe River, 246
Lobale, 24, 242
Lobombo Mountains, 201
Loje River, 6
Lokia, 460
Lomwe, 292
Lo-Tembwa River, 242
Louisbourg, 460
Lourencjo Marques, 94, 217
Lovedale, 136
Lovili Mountain, 4
Luabo, 280
Luaha River, 305
Lua-Ena River, 242
Lua-KaUa River, 7
Lua-Ngo Nbungo River, 242
Lua-Tuta River, 237
Luassa River, 252
Lubombo Mountains, 194
Lu-Calla River, 4, 7

C=^

INDEX.

601

Lueito, 49
Lu-Ebo River, 252
Lufiji River, 305
Lu-fu River, 6
hugh, 411
Lui, Luina, 260
Lujenda River, 285
Lukango, 32
Luleh, 412
J Lu-Lua River, 242
iiuo Kiver, 251
Luquez, 460
Lurio River, 285
Lushaze, 257
Luvu River, 305
Luwego River, 305
Lydenburg, 210, 214

Mabih, 299
Mabunda, 260, 262
Machaco's, 375
Madagascar, 420
Madame Island, 460
Ma-Denassana, 109
Madsanga, 462
Maf eking, 161
Mafia Island, 327
Magadoxo, 420
Magalies-bergen, 86
Maganya, 273
Magdosbu, 409
Ma-Gwamba, 207
Magwangara, 290
MaGwanza, 209
Mahafali, 444
Mahanoro, 457
Mahavelo, 460
Mahe Island, 471
Matorri, 469
Mainti, 442
Majuba Hill, 203
Majunga, 426
Makaiaka, 266
Makapana, 210
Makarakara, 240
Makkapolo Hills, 239
Makololo, 260, 'Jf2
Makorikori, 269
Makua, 292
Ma-Kwakwa, 229
Malagasy, 420, 438
Malagazy River, 304
Malange, 11, 146
Malay Citv, 440

Race,'439
Malayo-Polynesians, 439
Malindi, 374
Malmesbury, 130
Maluti Mountains, 84, 87
Mambari, 22, 278
Mamboya, 325
Mamusa, 181
Manafiafa, 422
Manansa, 262
Mancissa River, 227
Manda, 407
Mandala, 277
Ma-Ndanda, 228
Ma-Ndowa, 230
Mangoka River, 432
Mangone, 271
Mangue Grande, 35
Mangue Peqneno, 35
Manica, 222, 234
Maningori River, 429
Mauis.~a River, 94
Manjoba, 219

Manopa River, 429
Mantassa, 457
Manutzu, 469
Manyame River, 271
Manyanja, 273, 290
Manyara Lake, 328
Maputa River, 94
Marabastad, 213
Marar Prairie, 380
Maravi, 248
Marburg, 186
Marehan, 389
Marenga-Mkhali, 325
Mannites, 452
Maroantsetra, 460
Marofototra, 431
Maromita, 452
Marovoai, 462
Masai, 363
Masai Land, 336
Masasi. 311, 317
Masasima, 297, 288
Mascarenhas Islands, 423
Maseala Cape, 431
Maseru, 170
Mashicores, 444
Masbona, 266
Masimbwa, 288, 299
Masindrano, 457
Massangano, 42
Massikesse, 233
Masupia, 262
Matambue, 290
Matambyane's, 264
Matatiel, 177
Matebele, 202, 264
Matebeleland, 264
Matitanana River, 430
Matoka Plateau, 272
Matoppo Mountains, 222
Man Plateaux, 399
Manchberg, 86
Maungu Mountain, 344
Mauritius, 422
Maute Island, 469
Mavatanana. 462
Maviha, 294, 310
Maviti. 271
Ma-Vumbu, 19
Mayapa, 288
Mayet, 412
Mayotte Island, 469
Mazaro, 279
Mazitu, 271
Mazungo, 270
Mbazi River, 307
Mbrish River, 6

Town, 36
Medo, 291
Meduddu, 382
Mehet, 412
Melambe River, 252
MeHnda, 374
Memba Bay, 288
Merka, 419

Mfumbiro Mountain, 303
Mgunda-Mkhali, 325
MiddelbuTg, 35, 214
Mijertin, 387
Mkafu River, 307
Moali IsLind, 470
Moculla, 35
Modder River. 199
Moeru Mountains, 348
Moheli Island, 470
Mojambikas, 452
Mojanga, 462

Mokambo Bay, 287

Port, 288
Molomo Mountains, 250
Molopo River, 88
Molopole, 162
Molteno, 136
Mombasa, 371
Mombera, 275
Monfia Island, 327
Monie, 418
Monomotapa, 227
Montepes, 288, 299
Moors, 445
Mopea, 279

Morambala Mountain, 251
Morokwane, 161
Mossamedes, 12, 50
Mossoril Bay, 295

Town, 297
Moti, 401
Mozambique, 281, 287, 295

Channel, 224

Current, 224
Mozoe River, 264
Mpalera, 264
Mpapwa, 32*
Mparira, 264
Mposo River, 6
Msamudu, 470
M'Sapere, 469
Msiri, 263
Mtande, 269
Mtepwesi River, 299
Mto Bubasbi, 386
Mto River, 307
Mtonia Mountain, 249
Muata Yamvo, 48
Mucimba, 299
Mncoso, 7
Mukassekere, 258
Mukosso, 258
Mulassa. 234
Mulata Mountain. 380
Mulondo-Zambi Mountain, 6
Mu-Ndombe, 25, 28
Muorongo, 370
Murchison Falls, 250
Muroni, 470
Murraysburg, 132
Murreyhan, 389
Mu-Seli, 25
Mu-Shicongo, 17
Muahima, 41
Mu-Sorongo, 17
Mussera, 35
Mussombo Lake, 7
Muyolo, 17
Muzelo River, 252
Mvita, 371
Mweru, Lake, 272
Mwambi, 288, 299
Mwamhakomo, 298

Nagandi Lake, 286
Naivasha Lake, 336, 340
Nakuro Lake, 341, 376
Kamagari River, 87
NamaquaTown, 173

Land, 60
Namaquas, 09, 72, 108
Nambwe Falls, 264
Namieb, 63

Namuli Mountains, 282
Nano, 22
Natal, 92, 178
Natalia. 179
Nattes Island, 460

502

INDEX.

Ndara Mountain, 344, 352
Ndonga, G8
Negrillo, Nrj?rito, 108
Negroes in Madagascar, 452
Neu-Deutschland, 188
New Barmen, 75
Newcastle, 184, 188
New Republic, 191
New Scotland, il4
Ngami Lake, 109, 162, 239
Ngaziya Island, 470
Ngola, 2
Ngotsi, 460
Nias Island, 441
Nieuwoveld, 83
Nihegehe, 297
Nisbett's Bath, 77
Njiri, 346
Nkala, 297
Nkotami, 214
Noki,31, 32
Nole, 403

No Man's Land, 177
Nosob River, 88
Nossi-Boraha, 431, 460
No3si-Be, 425, 461
Nossi-Dambo, 421 *
Nossi-Fali, 462
Nossi- Ibrahim, 460
Nossi-Komba, 425, 462
Nossi-Mitsio, 425,462
Nossi- Volane, 461
Nourse River, 9
Novo-Redondo, 49
Nsuani Island, 469
Nya-Ntumbo, 319
Nyassa Lake, 247
Nyika, 352
Nylstroom, 213

Oerlam, 74
Ogaden, 387
Ogden Reefs, 75
Ogu Plateau, 380
Okafima, 68
Okahanja, 75
Okovango River, 236
Okwanyama, 68
Olibanum, 389
Olif ant River, 81, 90, 95

Mountains, 81
Olombingo Mountain, 5
Omanu-u River, 65

Town, 75
Omassi, 446
Ombias, 446
Omblandu, 68
OndoDga, 68
Onibe River, 430, 457
Ontaysatroihas, 447
OoMep, 130
Qphir, 226, 233
Opia, 411
Orang Lami, 74
Orange River, 78, 86

Colony, 196
Oromo, 400
OruBsi, 403
Ostrich-farming, 139
Otavi Hills, 62
Otumbi Volcano, 6
Otyikango, 75
Otyimbingue, 71, 75
Oudtahoom, 131
Ovamboland, 65
Ova-Mpo, 9, 67
Ova-Zorotu, 72

Oves, 442
Ozi River, 351
Paarl, 128
Palapye, 164
Pamalonibe Lake, 250
Pamanzi Island, 468
Pamba, 43
I'anga, Mt., 222
Pangaui Falls, 305

River, 350
Panigals, 403
Panyame, 264
Pare Mountains, 355
Passandava Bay, 454, 462
Patta, 407
Pedras Negras, 45
Pedro dos Feiticeiros, 7
Pelican Point, 65
Pemba Bay, 299

Island, 327, 333
Persian Gulf, 419
Philippolis, 200
PlJcgrsean Fields, 428
Physical Features of Angola, 4

Busutoland, 1C8

Cape Colony, 83

Comoros, 496

Damaralaud, 60

Ciazaland, 220

Griqualand West, 149

Lake Ngami, 239

Lower Zambese, 263

Madagascar, 427

JIasnilaud, 388

Middle Zambese, 245

Mozambique, 282

Namaqualand, 63

Nyassa Basin, 248

Orange River Colony, 196

Somaliland, 379

South Africa, 81

Transvaal Colony, 201

Upper Zambese, 236

Zanzibar, 304
Pieter Maritzburg, 179, 188
Pietsani, 161
Pilestrina, 422
Pinetown, 188
Piquetberg, 120
Plate Island, 474
Pniel, 161
Pongwc, 370
Pondoland, 176
Pondomisi, 177
Port Alexander, 54
Port Alfred, 135
Port Beaufort, 130
Port Dumford, 386
Port Elizabeth, 121, 127, 132
Port Harding, 186
Port Herald, 277
Port Natal, 184, 187
Port Nolloth, 130
Port Scott, 186
Port Victoria, 376, 474
Porto do Hheo, 75
Potchefstroom, 212
Potong Mountain, 84
Potsdam. 136
Praslin Island, 471
Pretoria, 212
Pretos, 27

Primeira Island, 288
Prince Albert, 131
Pungo-Ndongo, 44
Pungue River, 233, 253
Piint, 390

Qneenstown, 136
Quelifa, 374
Quelimane, 253, 280
Querimba, 298
QuibaUa, 36
Quicombo, 49
Quillengues, 60
QuUoa, 319
liuimbande, 24
IJuissama, 24, 32
•iuissembo, 36
Uuiteve, 8, 234

Rabai, 370, 374
Radama, 424
Rahahuin, 397
Rahhanwin, 397
I{ami, 399
Ra-Najoa, 258
Randberg, 85
Ras Assir, 382
Ras-el-Khail, 411
Ras Hadada, 412
Ras Hafiin, 382
Reboboth, 75
Recife Cape, 134
Rers, 397

Reimion Island, 426
Rhodesia, 235

Southern, 264

Northern, 271

Station, 273
Richmond, 137
Rikwa Lake, 307
Rio Bero, 51
Rio dos Fuegos, 385
Rio Giraul, 61
Riversdale, 131
Kobben Island, 118
Robertson, 130
Roggeveld, 83
Rorke's Drift, 191
Rouxville, 199
Rovuma River, 285, 286
Ruaha River, 306
Rubeho Pass, 304
Rudolf Lake, 33^ 341
Rufiji River, 304, 306
Rufu River, 307
Rug River, 261
Rustenburg, 213
Ruwenzori Mountain, 345, 375

Saadani, 302, 323
Sabaki River, 351
Sabi River, 222, 323
St. Augustine River, 463
St. Brendan Island, 474
St. Helena Bay, 81
St. John River, 92
St. Lucia Lake, 92
St. Lucia Bay, 422
St. Mary Cape, 420, 427
St. Mary Island, 429, 460
St. Miguel Fort, 37
St. Vincent River, 432
Sakalavas, 443
Sakatia, 462
Saldanha Bay, 128
Salisbury, 187
SamanMi, 390
Samburu, 341
Samneh, 420
Samoans, 441
Sandwich Haven, 76
San-FUippe, 49
Sanhaj, 390

INDEX.

503

San-Januario, 52
San-Salvador, 12, 32
Santa-Cruz Island, 134
Santo-Antonio, 32
Sanyati, 264
Sao-Jose, 36

Sao-Lourencjo Island, 422
Saonio, 453
Sapa, 49
^ Saul's Kuil, 152
• Sea -Point. 128
Semliki River, 375
Senku River, 87
Senkunj-ane River, 85, 87
Senna, 27

Serra de Gorongoza, 234
Serra Mashinga, 270
Serra da Neve, 5
Serra Vissecua, 50
SeycheUe Islands, 471
Sezyidieh Province, 375
Shagga, 400 »

Shaki-Shaki, 334
Shanarani, 333
Shepstone, 186
Shesheke, 264
Shilluks, 393
ShOoango River, 16
Shiperoni Mountain. 283
Shiraz, 468
Shire River, 250
Shirigri, 116
Shinra Lake, 277
Shoa, 469

Mountains, 378
Shoshong, 163
Shuba, 161
ShuguH Falls, 305
Shupanga, 279
Shurfa, 410
Sihanaka Valley, 430
Sihanakas, 446
SiMH, 451

Silhouette Island, 471
SOindi, 222
Simba-Uranga, 307
Simon's Bay, 81

ToTvn, 128
Sinoia, 271
SipumgambUi, 222
Sita Tonga Mountains. 222
Slavery in Bechuanaland, 166

Madagascar, 452

Mozambique, 300
• Smithfield, 199

Sneeuw-Kop Mountains, 81
Sobat River, 384
Sofala, 226, 233, 287
Sokotra, 416
Somali, 391
Somaliland, 377
Somerset, 135
Songwe River, 274
Sottiro, 397

South African Republic, 201
Standerton, 212
Stefanie Lake, 336, 341
Stellaland, 156
Stellenbosch, 128
Stevenson Road, 272
•* Stockenstrom, 135
Storm-Bergen, 83
Stutterheim, 136
Suk HOls, 350
Sumbe-Ambela, 49
Sunday River, 91
Sussi, 116

Swakop River, 0
Swazi, 194
Swaziland, 193
Swellendam, 130

Table Bay, 8i

Table Mountain, 81

Tabora, 322, 325

Tagalas, 441

Tajnrah Gulf, 414

Talla-Mangongo Mountains, 4

Tamatave, 459

Tambookies, 175

Tanaland, 375

Tana River, 350

Tananarive, 455

Tanga, 370

Tanghin, 430

Tani-Be, 421

Taolanora, 422

Tarka-Stad, 135

Tarud, 399

Tati, 269

Taukhe River, 23'9

Taung, 161

Tees River, 118

Tembi River, 94

Tembuland, 175

TengtengBay, 431

River, 429

Town, 460
Tete, Tette, 270
Thaba Bossigo, 169
Thaba Nshu, 199
Tintingue, 460
Toamasina, 459
Togueni River, 381
Tofia, 433, 463
Tolo Azime Falls, 94
Tomal, 398
Tonga Islanders, 44 1
Tonke River, 239
Topography of Angola, 3

Barotseland, 263

Bechuanaland, 160

Cape Colony, 125

Damaraland, 75

Gazaland, 231

Lower Zambese, 279

Madagascar, 455

MasaUand, 370

Matebeleland, 268

Mozambique, 295

Namaqualand, 77

Natal, 185

Nyassa Basin, 275

Orange River Colony, 199

Somaliland, 404

Transvaal, 212

Zanzibar, 316, 333
Toro Mountain, 380 -
Transkei, 170
Transvaal Colony, 201
Tromelin Island, 474
Tsao, 239

Tsiafa-Javona Mountain, 427
Tsoakhub River, 75
Tug Darror, 387
Tug Faf, 387
Tugela River, 92
Tulbagh, 128
TuUear, 433, 463
Tumr, 391
Tnnge Bay, 299
Turkanas, 369

Ub River, 88
LT)iri, 222
Uganda, 379
Ugaras, 53
ITgogo, 304
Uibo, 298
Ujiji, 324, 325
Ukeredi River, 317
XJkulombwe, 262
Ulu Mountains, 348
Ulundi, 195
Uma River, 384
Um-Bolozi River, 94
Um-Geni River, 92
Umgoni, 228
Um-Komanzi River, 92
Tjm-Lazi River, 92
Umtafuna, 176
Um-Tata River, 175
Um-Tavnna River, 185
Um-Volosi River, 191
Um-Zimkulu River, 92
Um-Zimvubu River, 92
Ungana Bay, 351
Ungenge, 260
TJnguya, 327
Uniondale, 13?
Unodwengo, 195
Unyanyo, 294
Upa, S

Upper Hay, 155
Uranga River, 305
Urori, 305
Usagara, 304
Usambara, 337

Mountains, 343
Uvirandra, 435

Vaal River, 87
Vaalpens, 207
Vahea, 460
Vakoa, 435

Van-Reenen Pass, 200
Vatomandri, 457
Va-Twa Zulus, 217
Vazaha, 424
Va-Zimba Coast, 420
VaZimba Negroes, 447
Verulam, 187
Vezos, 444
Victoria FaUs, 243

Nyanza, 379

West, 137
ViUa Gouveia, 236
Vitu. 404

Town, 406
Vogelklip, 130
Vohemar, 460
Voijburg, 161
Voltas Cape, 90
Vrijheid, 214
Vuorana, 404

Wa-Bena, 314
Wa-Bondei, 354
Waboni, 405
Wa-Chaga, 356, 357
Wa-Chungu, 272
Wadan, 409
Wa-Digo, 359
Wa-Doe. 314
Wa-Dondi, 312
Wa-Elgeyo, 369
Wa-Geja, 314
Wa-Gindo, 312

604

INDEX.

Wa-Gogo, 31 1

Wa-Ruvu, 356

Yebir», 398

Wa-Gono, 356

Wa-Sagara, 314

Yemen, 417

Wahabites, 418

Wa-Sambara, 354

Yomatcma, 304

Wa-Hadimu, 328

Wa-Shcnzi, 354

Yul, 404

Wa-Hehe, 314

Wa-Silikomo, 363

Wa-Hiyao, 293

AVa-SwaheU, 315

ZaUa. 414

Wa-Kaguni, 314

Wa-Tavota, 356

Zak, Zekoe, River, 87

Wa-Kamasia, 3G9

Wa-Teita,,356

Zambese Delta, 252

Wa-Kamba, 361

Waterberg, 237

River, 8, 235

Wa-Kumi, 313

AVa-Zegulia, 313, 356

Zambczia, 279

Wa-Kikuyu, 302

Webi River, 384, 387

Zamburu, 341

Wa-Kwafi, 356, 363

Webi ShebeU, 387

Zanahar-Be, 451

Wa-Kwere, 313

Weenen, 188

Zanguebar, 328

Walaga River, 384

Wei-Wei River, 369

Zanzibar, 301

Walamo, 343

Wcffington, 128

City, 333

Waller Mountain, 250

WcstowTi, 185

Island, 326

Walvisch Bay, 53, 62, 74, 75

White Nile, 384

Zaudzi, 468

Wa-Megi, 314

Wijnbcrg, 128

Zaza-Manga, 445

Wami River, 304

Wiigefont«in, 188

Zeenist. 213

Wa-Muera, 311

Willowmore, 132

ZeUa, 391

Wa-Ndonde, 312

Winburg, 200

Zenj, 327

Wa-Ngindo, 312

Winterboek Mountain, 81

Zcnza, 40

Wa-Xguru, 313

Witu, 375

Zimbabve. 226

Wa-Nindi, 290

Witwatersrand, 210

Ziu-Ziu River, 247, 271

Wa-Nyakauyaka, 312

Wolofs, 393

Zomba, 278

Wa-Nyika, 357

WoreeKt<?r, 130

Zombo Mountains, 6

Wa-Pare, 356 ,

Worra, 399

Zoutpansberg, 213

Wa-Pokomo, 351

Wosha Mountain, 345

Zoutpansbergen, 86

Warahanje, 326

Wray-Hook, 199

Zuway, Lake, 379

Wariro Mountain, 379

Zuga River, 239, 240

Warmbad, 77

Ya, 404

Zulu-Kafirs, 109

Wamshir, 411

Yaffar Pass, 381

Zululand, 190

War-Sangeli, 412

Yao, 277, 294

Zulus, 191, 192, 227

Warshek, 411

Yardaf, 382

Zmubo, 269

END OF VOL. TV.

PRINTED BY H. VTHTOE AND COMPANY, LIMITKD, OITY EOAD, LONDON.

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